Friendship with Jesus

In the time that we are living in, having a friend has become a strange commodity. The handshake of friendship meaningless and the motives questionable. But there is friend that sticks closer than a brother. He was the first-born son of Joseph and Mary 2000 years ago.

As a young man He started His ministry and chose His friends not from the ranks of the academia, the Pharisees, but from the fishermen of Galilee. The tough kind. Jesus knew that the twelve to whom He would give the command to preach the gospel to all the nations, needed to have endurance and experience.

Jesus, as a friend was intimately involved in the everyday problems of His friends. He was there when His friends celebrated a wedding. As a family friend, he changed the water on the Cana wedding into wine. And not just wine, but the best wine.

Jesus also noticed the everyday struggle of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. For thirty-eight years this invalid was lying at the pool. Jesus’ question to the man was: “Do you want to be healed?” He did not know him yet, He healed him. A friend like Jesus noticed that the man could  not reach the pool by himself. He went to the invalid and asked him what he needed. Jesus did not have to adhere to the rules of healing, He simply said to the man: “Get up, take up your bed and walk.” He simplified the problem to mere obedience to His Word. Jesus is the friend as the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed.

On another occasion, a woman was brought to Jesus who was caught in adultery. The objective was to use this woman’s sin to find a motive to crucify Jesus. The law of Moses prescribed that adultery must be punished with stoning. But Jesus is a friend who knows when to be quiet. When the accusers brought the woman before Jesus, he did not answer them. Instead, he bent down and wrote in the sand. What was written is not known, but from Jeremiah 17:13 it could possibly be this:

             Lord, you are the hope of Israel, all who forsake you, will be put to shame.

             Those who turn away from You, will be written in the dust.

This statement definitely applied to the Pharisees. Instead of the woman being humiliated and shamed, the Pharisees exposed their evil motives and had to walk away. How discreet is Jesus?

Having saved the woman from death. One would think that Jesus would at least reprimand the woman, instead, He asked her, “Where are your accusers.” Jesus is the friend that when you come before Him with your sin, not only does He save you from death, but He will say, “ Neither do I condemn you,” just as He did to the woman.

Among Jesus’ friends were also Martha, Maria and Lazarus. Jesus received the tragic news that His friend Lazarus died. Jesus arrived at the grave four days later, and His heart was filled with sorrow and compassion. We read that Jesus wept. Martha and Maria did not understand the power of their friend. They knew He could have healed Lazarus if He came earlier, but now grief-stricken, Jesus revealed to them that He is the resurrection and the life.

One can hardly imagine the utter amazement, shock and disbelief of the mourners when Lazarus came out of the grave on Jesus’ command. A friend like Jesus did not only raise Lazarus to temporal life, but he will raise our temporal bodies to eternal life.

And just before He is crucified, in the intimate setting of the last Passover, Jesus demonstrates to His disciples His humility by washing their feet. He foretells that Peter will deny Him, but reassured Peter that prayed for him, He reassures the twelve that although He is going away, He will return. He did not only through His ministry met their physical needs, but now He is meeting their emotional needs.

He is the friend of whom it is said that no one has greater love, as He laid down His life for His friends.