01-31-13 Friendship 4

John 13:1-5 "It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

As I wrote yesterday, Jesus knew who would betray Him - but I was focusing on His (disciples) friends gathering around Him. Today, I feel prompted to focus on the highlighted portion above.

If I knew someone was going to seriously cause me harm and they happened to be sitting at table with me sharing the same food and drink, I would either not invite that person and stay far away from him or not-so-lovingly want to place my hands around their neck and squeeze to twist their head at an odd angle. Ok, maybe a 'slight' anger issue there ;) Either way, I would be seething inside.

BUT JESUS...'Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end."?? Ok, I get it. Matthew 5:43 starts, "You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ (Yea, God - now THAT'S what I'm talking about) But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven." (What?????) Italics mine, of course. He loved Judas until the end (which in my opinion - the end is death).

Jesus was a faithful friend. He was a loyal friend. He was a friend that would never let go - never leave his friends in a lurch - never turn His back on them. He was a friend to the death. He trusted them - had faith in them - poured his life out for them (figuratively and literally). He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

He is OUR faithful friend; OUR loyal friend; a friend that will NEVER let go of us - NEVER leave us in a lurch - NEVER turn our backs on us. He is OUR friend to the death. He trusts us, has faith in us, AND He poured out His VERY LIFE for us.

Jesus is an example of true friendship. If He can love not only his friends (which is hard to do sometimes) and also love His enemies AND He said greater things we can do (John 14:12) - we can do the same and be truly 'children of our Father in Heaven'. Do we want to? Our flesh is probably saying, heck, no. But will we try?