Who is Jesus? The Friend

The Friend

John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (NIV)

            Many people flocked to Jesus to hear His many parables, messages, and receive healing in both body and spirit. The outcasts knew that He would accept them, the lonely knew that they would be comforted, the brokenhearted knew that they would be healed and the friendless knew that they had a Friend in Jesus. Jesus was everything to everyone and embodied the meaning of true friendship. Jesus had twelve disciples who followed Him everywhere He went, but even then, Jesus was more loyal to them than they were to Him. Proverbs 18:24 One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (NIV)

            Jesus was the kind of friend who was willing to give up His own life in order to save the lives of others who were undeserving. John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (NIV) Jesus left His heavenly home to come amidst those who would reject, forsake and even hate Him for being able to win the hearts and minds of others. Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (NIV) The religious leaders of the day hated Jesus because they envied His ability to connect with the people and gain their respect. In Jesus, they found freedom and hope whereas with the religious leaders, they were bound by countless rules, superiority, and condemnation.   

            Jesus was a true friend who was there to show them the love of the Father, the selflessness of the Son, and to eventually leave them with the gift of the Holy Spirit. He came to give, but never take. He came to encourage, but never abuse. He came to heal, but never to destroy. He came to set prisoners free, but not to enslave. He came to save the lost so they wouldn’t be condemned to hell. Jesus is the Best Friend that the world can ever have.