Friends of Jesus

Mark 10:13, 14; Luke 6:13-16; 8:1-3; 15:1, 2; John 3:1, 2

GOLDEN TEXT: “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”—John 15:14

THE present series of lessons has been arranged under the general title of “Jesus and His Friends.” The texts for today indicate the wide range of interest taken in Jesus and his teachings. They tell of mothers bringing their children to Jesus to receive his blessing; of fishermen, publicans and sinners; of women in the lower as well as prominent walks of life; and even members of the Sanhedrin. Most of the leaders of the Jewish people rejected him and his message, even as John testifies, “He came unto his own [people], and his own received him riot.”—John 1:11

Jesus indicates that it was not by chance that any became his disciples. In John 6:44,45, we read the explanation, as to why some of his hearers were convinced of his divine origin and became his followers, while others of the same nation and the sane religious profession were deaf to his message. Jesus there says: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.”

Again Jesus says in his prayer recorded in John 17:6, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” No doubt a definite law has governed in the varied responses of members of our race to the Gospel message, both then and all down through the age. One has well said that only those appreciate the message of the grace of God in Christ who possess the three H’s—Hunger, Honesty, and Humility.

While many were attracted to Jesus “and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth,” crying, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” when he entered Jerusalem at the close of his ministry, doubtless, much of that interest was only superficial and temporary. Possibly some of those in the multitude who hailed his entry into Jerusalem were among that other multitude which, a few days later, clamored for his death.—John 4:22,28,29; Matt. 27:20-22

Jesus was a friend to all. He was ready to receive and bless the little children; to comfort the afflicted and bereaved; to heal the sick and deliver those possessed of demons; to tell the glorious message of God’s grace to the multitude or the individual. It is one thing to be a friend, and quite another to possess a friend. This difference is pointed out in our Golden Text, which is a part of Jesus’ instructions to his eleven faithful disciples on the way from the upper room to Gethsemane. Even these were his friends—conditionally. In this same conversation, recorded in John, chapter 15, Jesus tells his disciples how they may abide in his love, saying, “Even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” Here he indicates that there exists but one basis for true friendship, true and lasting love, namely, adherence and loyalty to the will of God.

It is well for us to have this point clearly established in our minds and in all our relationships. It is essential that we keep it before us in entertaining the hope of being with the Lord in the kingdom. Friendship with Jesus implies complete devotion to the will of God, the same full consecration which the Master professed and carried out. Those who have this disposition have the spring of eternal joy, even as Jesus said in this connection, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”—John 15:11

Friends of Jesus! Those whom he counts as such have an affinity for the truth, for God’s Word. They are never satisfied with present attainments: they desire to know more and more, continually, of God’s principles and purposes; to be “filled with all the fullness of God”; to meet his own design for them, expressed by the apostle in Romans 8:29—“to be conformed to the image of his Son.” How precious the privilege! Let us meet the conditions, and be counted among his friends.

QUESTIONS:

What classes of people were attracted to Jesus?

What principle governed those who became his disciples?

Upon what basis may one become and remain a friend of Jesus?

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