On Sundays during Lent, this year, I’ve been writing about the different roles that Jesus held, from son to brother to teacher to savior. Today I’m looking at Jesus as a friend.
Can you imagine Jesus calling you a friend? But friendship should always be a two-way street. If I think of Jesus as a friend of mine, I stand firm in the faith that Jesus would call me a friend as well.
The first thing that comes to my mind is the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus", originally written as a poem by preacher Joseph M. Scriven in 1855.
What
a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!
What
a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer!
If you wonder what it’s like to be a friend of Jesus, ponder the shortest verse in the Bible.
Jesus wept. (John 11:35, New International Version)
Jesus had just arrived at the home of his friend Lazarus and is met by his sisters, Martha and Mary. They tell Jesus that their brother is dead and has been buried for four days already. Jesus is moved to tears of compassion for the family. Then he goes to the grave, has the stone rolled away, and calls Lazarus back to life. Now, that’s being a friend.
But the most significant thing that Jesus does is to lay down His life for His friends.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:13, New King James Version)
This
year’s theme for pictures to accompany my Lenten posts is churches which I’ve
taken pictures of during my travels. Today’s church is in Illinois, and I’m
sorry to say that I don’t remember which town it was in – either LaSalle or
Peru. My internet search could not discover it, but those were the towns that I
narrowed it down to, based on the exact time and date I snapped the picture. If
you are looking for a friend to keep track of stuff, I may not be your
person.
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