Jn.15:12,13 – This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
This has to be the greatest of all honors, to be called a friend of God. It would be enough to be a servant or a disciple but to be brought into the level of friendship is beyond the pale. Jesus expressed His love for us with His death on the cross, Paul even said it like this, “Christ died for the ungodly”. So could it be that He has included the ungodly in His list of friends. Most humans are not like that, their friends are usually from the same social group or category, most people have friends which are quite like themselves. Not Jesus, He became friends with the rejected, the poor, and the outcastes; He befriended tax collectors, prostitutes, and political activists, pretty much anyone who was desperate qualified as a friend of God. Here is how Matthew Henry describes this.
“Christ loved his disciples by laying down his life for them (v. 13): Greater love hath no man than this, to lay down his life for his friend. This is the love with which Christ hath loved us. See the extent of the love of people for one another. The highest proof of it is laying down one’s life for a friend to save their life. It is love at the highest level, which is strong as death (SS 8:6). See the excellence of the love of Christ. He has not only equaled but even exceeded the most noted love. Others have laid down their lives for their friends, but Christ laid down his for us when we were enemies (Rom. 5:8,10). “Those hearts that are not softened by such incomparable sweetness of divine love must be harder than iron or stone” (Calvin).”
This is the love that won each of us over, the love of God demonstrated at the cross, He loved us and His love literally conquered us. How could we say no when we are rejected by the people of this generation, how could we say no to this kind of love? As Calvin said, “our hearts are softened by His incomparable sweetness”. We have been captured completely and finally by the love of God.
