“I do not call you servants any longer. . . but I have called you friends.” This verse from the gospel of John may have made the disciples’ chests swell. Wow! Friends! That implies equality, mutuality, respect. We’re no longer just underlings trying to catch on to what he is showing us. Evidently, we’ve gotten it. We’re not apprentices anymore. It’s an elevation in status. The disciples could have been glowing.
But before they finish patting each other on the back and high fiving there’s the rest of the story. There usually is more, with Jesus. Friends. What does it mean to be friends? Evidently, it means laying down your life. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Lay down your life? Maybe being friends doesn’t look so good. Maybe it’s easier to be a servant or a slave. Just work for someone, not die for them. But regardless of what we think our status is, Jesus sees himself as our friend. And he lays down his life. In fact, he not only lays down his life for his friends, he lays down his life for his enemies as well.
Good Friday is a day to consider this kind of love and to ask ourselves how we are befriending the world for which Jesus died.
Prayer: So often we have sung, “What a friend we have in Jesus.” Today we remember what that really means. We pray for the courage and strength to be Jesus’ friend loving the world as he loves even unto death. Maybe it won’t be the death of our bodies, but it may be the death of some of our attitudes or values or behaviors. It may be the death of our worldview. It may be the death of our apathy or complacency. It may be the death of our selfishness or greed. Help us to see who in the world needs our friendship. Jesus did not fear death. He trusted God. May the same be said of us. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 