I Call You Friends

In the Gospel of John 15:15, Jesus says, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

How often do you think of Jesus as your friend? I have to admit that I do not often think of Him in those terms. I think of Him as my Lord, my Savior, my Advocate, my Redeemer but not as my friend. Yet, He tells us that he calls us His friends.

A Franciscan gentleman had this insightful thought about the Jesus/friend relationship:

“Do you ever reflect upon the fact that Jesus feels proud of you? Proud that you accepted the faith which He offered you? Proud that after He chose you, you chose Him for a friend and Lord? Proud that you haven’t given up? Proud that you believe in Him enough to try again and again? Proud that you trust that He can help you? Do you ever think that Jesus appreciates you for wanting Him, for waning to say no to so many things that would separate you from Him? Do you ever think that Jesus is grateful to you for pausing to smile and comfort one of His children who has great need to see a smile, to feel a touch? Do you ever think of Jesus being grateful to you for learning more about Him so you can speak to others more deeply and truly about Him? Do you ever think that Jesus can be angry or disappointed in you for not believing that He has forgiven you totally? Because Jesus calls us His friends, there is the possibility of every feeling and emotion which can exist between friends to exist here and now between Jesus and you.”

Perhaps we never stop to contemplate Jesus being proud and grateful for us because we are always trying to earn His favor by our works, our actions, our words instead of just abiding in Him and His love as He tells us to do.

I have often found in my own walk that I am always stationed somewhere between pride and self-pity. There is always that toggle going on internally and truth be told, Jesus does not want us on either end of the spectrum. He wants us right in the middle where we are neither prideful nor loathing ourselves but resting in Him. I do not pretend that this is easy as we deal with the ups and downs of our own spiritual successes and shortcomings but maybe, just maybe Jesus expects more failure from us than we do of ourselves. I am reminded of Peter who after denying the Lord three times went back to fishing. He was done. He had given up the faith. He was a failure. And then the Lord met him on the shore, made him breakfast and asked him three times if He loved Him. Three times to show Peter that his thrice denial was forgiven and in the past and that what truly was in Peter’s heart was love.

And so too with us. The Lord knows we are frail and but dust, yet He loves us and urges us to feed His sheep, knowing that He who has begun a good work in us, WILL finish it.

As the old praise hymn goes:

"What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!"

Jesus wants to carry us as His friends. Let’s take everything to Him in prayer today.
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"It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us."
- C.S. Lewis

The Storyteller

When you hear the word “theology” what comes to your mind first?

Most likely you first think of theology as the study of God. You may also have the image of a gray-haired professor writing on a chalkboard about the attributes of God and how He interacts with mankind. I often think of the numerous Christian literature books I have read that methodically extract the hidden truths contained in the Word of God.

When Jesus sought to teach about God and His kingdom he did not use a chalkboard, a flow chart, or pass out a stack of Theology 101 textbooks. He told stories. Many stories. The majority of Jesus' stories or parables refer to simple everyday things, such as a woman baking bread (parable of the Leaven Bread), a man knocking on his neighbor's door at night (parable of the Friend at Night), or the aftermath of a roadside mugging (parable of the Good Samaritan); yet they deal with major religious themes, such as the growth of the Kingdom of God, the importance of prayer, and the meaning of love.

One notable author states, “To move through the language and imagery of Jesus’ parables offers some fascinating insights into His sensibilities. Webster’s dictionary defines an iconoclast as ‘one who makes attacks on cherished beliefs and institutions, one who destroys or opposes the veneration of religious images.’ Jesus, the master storyteller, was clearly an iconoclast. His parables expressed in words what His actions demonstrated. He shattered idols and blew away preconceived ideas of who God is what men and women are meant to be.”

Upon reading Jesus’ parables, I have often found myself scratching my head at God’s sense of justice and mercy. Why did the prodigal son receive such preferential treatment from his father over his hard working, loyal brother? Why did the king so willingly pardon the unpayable debt from a servant who boasted before him that he would repay him in full? And why on earth did the guys that only worked one hour in the field get the same pay as the guys that worked all day?

The Storyteller unsettles us. Jesus’ parables are an affront to our traditional beliefs about God, justice, and how we are to respond to others. But yet Jesus stands by His stories and urges us, as He did His Jewish audience two thousand years ago, to trust Him. As one writer so eloquently stated when discussing why Jesus taught using parables, “Because, above all, Jesus knew what God was like, so good to the poor, so glad when the lost are found, so overflowing with a father’s love for the returning child, so merciful to the despairing, the helpless and the needy.” This is the God we serve. A God who tells us so tenderly in Romans 5:8 that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And that all the angels rejoice when ONE sinner repents.

Quite simply, I believe Jesus told us stories because He knew that was the most effective communication vehicle for conveying the love of God to us. Perhaps we would not have understood Him if He just simply stated the truths about who God is and how He loves us in a bunch of declarative sentences. I also believe He taught this way because stories are memorable. The images of His stories are burned in our minds as we think of the father running toward the wayward son and kissing him, the beaten man being bandaged on the side of the road by his sworn enemy, the beggar Lazarus being carried to Abraham’s bosom. These are the pictures that the Lord Jesus left us to provide a glimpse into the heart of God. Over and over again, Jesus reminds us that God does not love the way we do - based on conditions, status, or favor. He accepts us unconditionally regardless of our position in life and regardless of how we will respond in return. All of us are equal at the cross. And His expectation is that we, who call ourselves His disciples, will love others the same. Let’s begin today.