Jn 15: 9-17
“I call you friends.” Did you accept the friend request of Jesus?
We cannot imagine our life without friendships. We will have a small chosen circle of friends whom we keep close to our hearts, with whom we can share everything, we can be what we are, and we are hopeful that these friends will be with us in our good times as well as in our bad times. When we read Bible, we come across a God who passionately seeks human friendship. In the Old Testament we encounter personalities like Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Moses, Samuel, David etc. There is something common about all these strong walls. First and foremost they were chosen by God to lead Israel as their leaders, at the same time they all enjoyed an intimate friendship with Yahweh. They were the mouthpieces of Yahweh and they could connect themselves to Yahweh at any time.
Does God wish friendship only with the chosen men? No, the New Testament discuses answer for this question. We have analyzed a few biblical figures who enjoyed close friendship with the Lord. But they never had the physical presence of the Yahweh. Yahweh appeared to them in the form of fire, storm, cloud, earthquake etc. They could grasp the divine message but there was a gap in this divine-human friendship. But God always wanted to enter into a deeper and intimate friendship with us. We need to understand incarnation from this perspective. The eternal word became flesh in order to bridge the gap between heaven and earth.
When we reflect about the friendship with Jesus the first worry that comes to our mind is that am I worthy to build friendship with Jesus? Jesus had twelve close friends. They were illiterate, fishermen, tax collector etc. They always fought among themselves for fame, power etc. But Jesus taught them what does it mean to be a good friend? In Jewish culture even a slave will not wash the feet of anyone But Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and taught them that no one has greater love than this to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. He practiced this definition by shedding his own blood on the cross for his friends.
Is it possible to build friendship with Jesus in our times? If Jesus is not present with us then how can we enjoy his friendship? Every Eucharistic presence is a sign that Jesus is always present with us and he desires our friendship. This is the characteristic feature of our spirituality, an invitation to be in friendship with the Lord. Let us accept the friendship of Jesus, a friendship which is really real than any of the virtual friendship and also lasts even beyond our earthly sojourn.