5 Lessons on Friendship From Jesus- With Rebecca McLaughlinÖrnek

Jesus flips this script.

According to the Scriptures, the love we can experience in marriage, parent-child relationships, and friendship all shine lights on different aspects of God’s love. The best love we could ever find in Christian marriage mimics how Christ loves His church. The most devoted parent-child love gives us a glimpse of how the Father loves the Son—a love that Jesus tells us is extended to His followers. Likewise, the sweetest, sacrificial friendship love resembles how our Savior loves all those who put their trust in Him.

In modern Western culture, we are primed to think of friendship as a nice-to-have, while sexual and romantic love and parent-child love are vital to our thriving. But Jesus flips this script. Instead of telling His disciples that they must get married and have children, Jesus tells His followers that they must love each other, even to the point of death. When Jesus said there was no greater love than laying down one’s life for one’s friends, He wasn’t being hyperbolic or naïve. Instead, He was inscribing the good news of His unfathomable love for us onto Christian friendship with indelible ink.