Friends Forever

Friends Forever
By Dudley Hall www.sclm.org

"This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." John 15:12-15

What is new about the commandment that Jesus gave his disciples/friends? The Old Testament had instructed God's people to love God with their whole being and each other as they loved themselves. That means that the standard of success was determined by the capacity of the individual. Even if he did it, it would be a love limited by the love-capacity of the one loving. This new commandment had a new standard and a new power. It would be the distinctive of the new culture he was creating.

Jesus was creating a new group of friends who would become instrumental in spreading his new culture in the whole world. Jesus was probably using the term friends in reference to a covenant relationship, as was familiar to the Jewish way of thinking. In the ancient culture, neighboring nations were either friendly or unfriendly based on whatever agreements defined their relationship. God's friends are those in covenant with him. Those who refuse to relate to him on the basis of covenant are not friends, but adversaries. Jesus is calling the disciples his friends because he has chosen them. It is not because they are by nature friendly. He has explained to them that he has made the relationship with the Father possible so that they get the benefits to the covenant relationship he has with the Father.

The benefit he emphasizes is the level of understanding that friends get. Servants only get enough information to obey specific instructions. Even good servants are "instruction-conscious." Friends get the bigger picture. They are given the perspective of Jesus. He has explained to them that all of history is about the Father and the Son. He has shown them that the whole purpose of redemption is to reconcile creation to the Father. Actually he says that he has revealed to them ALL that the Father has revealed to him. That is a lot! They now know how it all works together to accomplish the ultimate purpose of God the Father.

Of course, even though he has given them this information, they don't yet fully understand it. It will be after the coming of the Holy Spirit that they will begin to grasp what Jesus has told them. Their lives will be a journey of passionate anticipation as they unpack all that Jesus explained.

What about it? Are you enjoying friendship with Jesus? The condition he gave to the original disciples was: "If you do what I command..." He commanded us to believe what he says is true and act like it.