Friendship in the garden

Jo Black June 20, 2024 5 2

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John 15: 14-17 (NIVUK)

14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: love each other.

I know two young men, now in their thirties, who have been best friends since high school. Their wives are best friends, their children play together and they even work in the same company and have lunch together. They support one another through all the trials and tribulations of life, working as a team. However, there is nothing exclusive about this friendship – they welcome others in to join in the shared jokes, take on new challenges, and ideally enjoy yet another good meal! This is a friendship that makes me smile to watch.

In today’s passage we get a glimpse of the friendship between Father and Son – the gardener and His vine, working in intimate partnership. However, we are not left on the outside of this pairing – Jesus calls us also to be his friends. Not just acquaintances or chummy servants, but right into the heart of the family ‘business’ (see verse 15). We are not excluded from their tight-knit secrets, but instead ‘everything’ is made known to us – as specially chosen confidantes.

How open are you to taking full part in this friendship? Will you also share the inner workings of your heart with Father and Son? Are you behaving more like an underling, joined to Jesus out of obligation instead of embracing the joy of being a chosen friend? Are you willing to trust your biggest asks into their hands, knowing they long to respond in generosity and won’t look down on you for leaning on them? And moreover, are you ready for that friendship to not become a clique? Does your loyalty and love extend to those still on the sidelines, still in ignorance of what it means to be a true friend of the Father?

The hand of friendship has been extended. Will you grasp it today and will you open yours to those you meet?

Prayer:

Father – help me to know you as friend.

I want to do life with you today.

Amen