“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 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. 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. This is my command: Love each other.”
– John 15:9-17
One of my favorite movie scenes is from “Tombstone”… right after the big shoot out by the creek when Doc Holliday is and Turkey Creek Johnson comment on Wyatt Earp’s bravado and not dying in the fight… as Doc says…
“Make no mistake. It’s not revenge he’s after. It’s a reckoning.” As Mr. Johnson replies… “Doc, you ought to be in bed. What the hell you doin’ this for anyway?” Then Doc Holliday says this… “Wyatt Earp is my friend.” Then the bold statement to Doc… “Hell, I got lots of friends.” And as the scene ends… Doc Holliday boldly proclaims… “I don’t.”
How many friends do you have? Childhood friends? Neighborhood friends? Workplace friends? Facebook friends? Etc… Thousands? Hundreds? A hand-full? One? None? We all need friends and we all need to be a friend. Even Dolly Parton told a TV interviewer she has an oldest friend in life… since age 7… who she could tell anything to and trust that information would go no further…I have a friend or two like that and I hope you do too! Friends matter! Faith matters!
Have you thought much about the value of friendship? The word ‘friend’ is an old English term which means ‘loving one’… and in Texas we have a Friendswood right here in our midst and my dad had good friends in life and couldn’t help himself being born in Friendship, NY… and this is what friendship can do…
Having friends gives us something to look forward to… and I’m going to do that next month when I return to Seguin, TX for my 50th college homecoming reunion.
Having friends provides us with someone to love… the ‘philia’ kind which appears in the Bible. Friends you love to be around and people who love to be around you!
Having friends also gives us something to do… like going to the beach… going to a ballgame… or even going to church! My son went backpacking in New England recently with friends from grade school, college and a current neighbor! Everyone got a new friend!
Having friends means we have someone to talk to… when things are great… like sharing the news… ‘we’re going to have a baby’ or ‘I got a new job!’ Friends are also the ones who listen to us when we share the news of the death of a parent or when a job is lost!
Having friends has life-long value because … friends… true friends… lasting friends will never leave us… well… until they do or we leave them.
Jesus called his disciples his friends… no longer servants but friends! They watched him die on Golgotha’s cross. They also had breakfast with him by the lakeshore after his resurrection and took his story and teachings into the world loving God, themselves and others… and… we are still!
