“I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends…”
What are friends for? I suspect we’ve all responded to someone who has just thanked us for something nice we have done for them or in some way we’ve offered to help them out.
We all cherish friends. Our lives are enriched by them, and they form a fundamental part of our life and its support system. The enduring friends in our lives are our anchors. We are changed by their friendship, and they are changed by ours. A real friend needs to speak honestly to us and, when necessary, bring us back to reality.
For example, in the eccentric yet warm relationship between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s mystery story characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
The two happened to be camping in the desert; they set up their tent and fall asleep. Some hours later, Sherlock Holmes woke his friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see." Watson replies, "I see millions of stars." "What does that tell you, old chap?" asks Sherlock Holmes.
Watson ponders for a minute. "Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three.
Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you, Holmes?"
Sherlock Holmes is silent for a moment, then speaks. "Watson, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent."
You may remember that old time hymn, “What a friend we have in Jesus.” Jesus has chosen you and me. God has given us Jesus so that we can be in relationship and friendship with God because in Jesus—his life, ministry, and teaching—we find the face of God. What the disciples did not fully comprehend when Jesus said, “I call you my friends,” was how radical a shift in their relationship this was for them.
What are friends for? In the book, “Lonesome Dove,” Woodrow F. Call, makes a promise to his friend Gus to bury him at the bend of the San Antonio River. When Gus dies in Montana, Woodrow tells the local funeral director that he will come by for the body when spring comes. “Well, Ill bury him for ten dollars,” says the eager mortician.
“No,” said Woodrow, “I made a promise that I would take him back to Texas.”
“Texas,” says the funeral director, “why no one would feel bound by a promise like that!”
“I do! It will be my great joy to fulfill my promise for my best friend because endurance and perseverance are the only traits that really matter.
Making commitments and sacrifices for others is the only way to live.”
The love of our friend Jesus is not a “one-time love. It is not a “look what I did for you” kind of love. It is a consistent and enduring love.
Brennan Manning tells the story of an Irish priest who, on a walking tour of a rural parish, sees an old peasant kneeling by the side of the road, praying. Impressed, the priest says to the man, "You must be very close to God." The peasant looks up from his prayers, thinks a moment, and then smiles, "Yes, he's very fond of me."
Jesus' closest friend on earth, the disciple named John, is identified in the Gospels as "the one Jesus loved." Brennan Manning said, "If John were to be asked, 'What is your primary identity in life?' he would not reply, 'I am a disciple, an apostle, an evangelist, an author of one of the four Gospels,' but rather, 'I am the one Jesus loves.'"
What would it mean, I ask myself, if I too came to the place where I saw my primary identity in life as "the one Jesus loves"? How differently would I view myself at the end of a day?
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