Jesus Our Essential Friend

John 15:15 (ESV) … “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Communication is essential to friendship. Friends speak to one another. They bare their souls and tell their troubles. They share their aspirations. It is no surprise then that in the upper room, in the midst of those conversations in which Jesus calls his disciples friends, the Lord of glory shares his thoughts with them. Already he has done this in reference to his death and resurrection, heaven, the coming of the Holy Spirit after his ascension, and other doctrines. Now he does so in reference to his special calling of them to fruitful service.

He declares that they are his friends because “everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (v. 15).

By God’s grace, we have a friend who can meet our needs. Therefore, we must love and give and pray. And we must be friends of Christ, as well as of one another.[1]

[1] Boice, J. M. (2005). The Gospel of John: an expositional commentary (p. 1188). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.