“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.” (John 15:15)

It is a pivotal night in the life of the Disciples. They are in Jerusalem and the past week had begun as they had come into town with Jesus’ Triumphal Entry. What a celebration that was!  They had come to the upper room to celebrate the Passover. After they entered, Jesus took a towel and washed their feet. He had given them a New Commandment and began to teach them in preparation for what is ahead. In the midst of teaching them he would call them His friends.

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. 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.” (John 15:13-15)

What a moment it must have been when the Disciples heard Jesus call them friends. Did their minds go to the Proverbs and remember, “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24b) Maybe, their minds remember a lesson from the life of Moses, “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” (Exodus 33:11a) They were talking face-to-face with the Messiah, as Peter had announced, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16) Their minds may have run to questions as they had before. Examples could be, what does He mean lay down His life? Or, what is the master’s business? Maybe this did not really register until after the Resurrection and they had received the Holy Spirit, who reminds and teaches them. “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26)

While we wonder what the Disciples thought, what about us? What do we think when Jesus calls us friends? The hymn writer Joseph Scriven gave some thoughts we may have had about our friendship with Jesus.

“What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Ev’rything to God in prayer! Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer!”

“Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer: Can we find a friend so faithful Who will all our sorrows share?Jesus knows our every weakness, Take it to the Lord in prayer.”

“Are we weak and heavy laden, Cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge; Take it to the Lord in prayer: Do they friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer: In His arms He’ll take a shield thee; Thou wilt find a solace there.”

We know that Jesus is the Friend to whom we can take everything. Yet, one note about what Jesus said to His friends, “everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15b) He let them in on the Master’s Business. They were to be about the Master’s Business. Which is what Jesus had lived before the Disciples while here on earth. The Master’s Business is also what Jesus would remind them of as He ascended back to the Father. Here is the Master’s business.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

May we be Jesus’ friends,

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block