5 Lessons on Friendship From Jesus- With Rebecca McLaughlinSýnishorn

Friendship is Cross-Shaped

Jesus’ linking of deep friendship love to His own sacrifice for us, means friendship is a vehicle of the gospel, not just because in friendship we speak gospel truth to one another (though we should), nor because we seek to speak the truth of the gospel to friends who don’t yet follow Jesus (though we must). Friendship is a vehicle for the gospel in the sense that it is cross-shaped, formed for life laid down in love for others, as Jesus laid down His own life for us. While Christian friendship may encompass more occasional connections and the regular encouragement of seeing friends we mostly see at church, it must not be confined to such relationships. We must be ready for the blood, sweat and tears that come with every heart-arresting love. But friendship, as we’ll see, is not designed to replicate the other kinds of human bonds, but to complement them.

Before He left the table, Jesus rammed the point home one last time: “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” Jesus’ disciples were sent out with the message of His great, self-sacrificing love for sinners. They were to shout it from the rooftops. But they were also to embody it in how they loved each other. If we are followers of Jesus, one way we will demonstrate our love for Him is by our love for one another.

Of course, Jesus’ relationships with His disciples can’t be neatly mapped onto our friendships. But just as He commanded His first followers to love one another as He loved them, so He commands His followers today to emulate that love. It’s a love prepared to die for one’s friends, despite their failure. It’s a love that lives vulnerably even toward those false friends who may be finally exposed as only wanting to be with us for what they can get. It’s a love that does not easily give up on friends who let us down, because the greatest friend of sinners has not given up on us.