Friendship With Jesus

    Devotional Reflection, April 24, 2025

Thursday in Easter Week

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:

12‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

\You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 958)

AM Psalm 146, 147; PM Psalm 148, 149

Ezekiel 37:1-14;  Acts 3:11-26 or 1 Corinthians 15:41-50;  John 15:12-27   

David's Reflections

This Gospel reading bristles with images--friend, servant/master, advocate/comforter. And, we encounter one of Jesus' best-known sayings here as well; "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."  Jesus gave himself for us because he regarded us as friends and saw us at risk of spiritual destruction and ultimate ruin.  Can I reframe his life, death, and resurrection around that image?  Jesus, my friend and brother, died for me, driven by a spirit of friendship.

Consider another remarkable statement in this reading.  "I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father."  The word "servant" could better be rendered "slave" in this context. Some translations add in a footnote that the underlying word is “slave.” A slave does not know his master's mind or intent, and he obeys in hope of avoiding punishment or of receiving reward.

We are friends, not slaves.  Jesus has disclosed to us his nature, will, and saving intent.  We have so much knowledge and understanding.  And, we obey, not out of fear or a spirit of employment;  rather, Jesus' love for us sparks our response, our obedience, and our love for one another. We exert ourselves to be faithful to Jesus as we would for any dear friend.

Like any metaphor or image, this one has its limits. It doesn't capture every dimension of our relationship with Jesus. But, the friend image offers a resonate contrast with and corrective to an over-emphasis on Jesus' role as Lord, one that presents him as a controlling and demanding power.

Christ says:  "You did not choose me but I chose you."  This friendship does not happen because we seek or discover Jesus.  Rather, he chooses us as friends.  He initiates and sustains the friendship, even through periods of our unfaithfulness. Being chosen affirms us, gives us a sense of being beloved and valued.  Jesus chose us.  What we do in response arises out of our gratitude and love.  We obey Jesus for reasons resembling those that prompt us to extend ourselves for a friend, because we trust and love him, and he, us.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury, the late William Temple, in his classic on John’s Gospel, wrote of this passage:  "Our action is all response;  all initiative is with the Lord: . . . That is fundamental. . . . Those of us who were baptized as infants are without excuse if we forget this.  Our being Christians is no doing of ours, any more than our being civilized;  it is something done to us and for us, not by us, though we have to make appropriate response in the form of  obedience prompted by love.”*

*William Temple, Readings in St. John's Gospel, (London:  MacMillan, 1947), p. 269.

Collect of the Day, Easter Sunday

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (BCP, 222)

Thursday in Easter Week

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 223)

A Collect for Guidance

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (BCP, 100)

For Peace

Almighty God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquility your dominion may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (BCP, 258)

In the Evening

O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen.   (BCP, 833)

A Collect for Mission

O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you, all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (BCP, 124)

Daily Office Gospel, John 15:12-27

12‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

18 ’If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you, “Servants are not greater than their master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, “They hated me without a cause.”

26 ’When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer