"I call you friends"

Jesus speaks words that cut through our everyday, thinking and living. Son of God, Saviour he comes out with words that challenge us. Consider these words from the last supper...

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. 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. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other."

Those words from Jesus really reach me.  They are the extraordinary statement of the new relationship that exists between humankind and God. They are in a way a declaration of love for humankind. After all true friendship is a love.  There can be a stage in a relationship between two people where it changes and grows and there is a dawning realisation that it has moved on to a deeper level. Sometimes it is verbalised "we are friends"  In a similar way this is Jesus speaking out loud, words of friendship" maybe what he and the disciples might have known in their hearts for some time.

"I call you friends" could be thought just a tiny phrase, words to us  hidden away in a longer speech that Jesus made at that last meal that he had with his companions before crucifixion.  But my belief is that it is very important.  The other things that were said at the meal are also important.  But they all stem from, or are motivated by, the friendship love expressed.  Jesus is the tenderness of God expressed in human form.  Jesus fully human yet fully divine is the message of God for all of us.  He teaches us that God is not too far away for us to reach.  And that His command to love (though difficult) is not impossible.  In fact it is the only thing that can make our lives worthwhile.

Of course the next thought is how do we respond to the friendship that God is offering us.  I was thinking about that and remembered a poem by Kahlil Gibran that I have kept in a little notebook for years.

"and let your best be for your friend.
if he must know the ebb of your tide,
let him know its flood also.
for what is your friend that you should
seek him with hours to kill?
seek him always with hours to live."

That is true friendship - being able to share the good and the bad times. To not shut out a friend is important and a test of friendship. I think if Jesus is a friend I should "seek him always with hours to live" - seek this friend Jesus who has commanded me to love!

Dear Jesus, thank you for your words that challenge us. Help me to respond. We ask your blessing on us in good times and in difficult times. Help us to grow in your love, and rejoice in each other. Amen

Face time

It's holiday season and the newspapers take on a different tone. One thing reported this week in the Metro was the research showing how much time people spend with their computer or gadget. The full story is here. The bit that struck me is that males are spending up to twelve hours a day looking  at the screen of their gadget.

They wouldn't spend that much time looking at the face of their wife or girlfriend! Or talking to them.

Yet we all know that face time with the ones we love is important. Face times with our gadgets can be fun, can even be useful, but also can suck away the time we can be using for friends, family and significant others.

As a lover of gadgets I struggle with this too. For example, I was bereft recently when my Motorola RAZR i fell into my shaving water and ceased to function. But I decided a long time ago that human relationships trump time on the computer or in front of the television. In other words if someone wants to come round for a chin wag, bring it on! Don't say to them  "sorry I am busy staring into the face of my beloved computer thingy!" After all our lives are really about relationships, that is where true fulfilment comes.

God recognises that too. Where we spend our time is after all so telling. And God wants a piece of your time too. Because he is a loving God, he also wants a love relationship with you. That doesn't happen without face time. If we allocate some of our time to God a relationship can build.

Strange perhaps to think about that in a holiday season. But right now you have a little extra time. So remember the saying "seek the face of God and live" - you might find a new sense of peace in your life.

For reflection :

 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:3 

Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it. Guard against turning back from the grace of God. Let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up and causes many troubles with its poison. Hebrews 12:14-15 GNT

Trust in the Lord. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord. Psalm 27:14 GNT