"Friendship & Beer with Jesus" Part 4
Today is the final part of the blog “Friendships & Beer with Jesus”. You can check out the other blogs by clicking, Part1, Part2, Part3. Tonights blog is about Jesus’s Friendships and a wrap up of all the blogs.
Have you ever thought about Jesus’s friends? Who He hung out with? What did they do? How did the respond when they learned the truth? Why didn’t Jesus choose His friends as the disciples? Each of this questions have crossed my mind a few times. I have always wanted to just see how Jesus was with His friends and family on the day to day life more so then the “ministry” time.
I want to first start with a quote from John’s Gospel chapter 15, verses 11-17.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends,* because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”
This quote from John shows what Jesus wants for us and from us. That unyielding love for one another and for Him. He is foreshadowing His death on the Cross. He is saying “ I am doing this for you because you are my friends”. Jesus shares with His disciples what His Father has told Him. There is a connection a bond that Jesus is not only showing them but also experiencing for Himself. Remember there is nothing written how well or at all if Jesus knew them before calling them to “follow Him”. We know that Lazarus was a friend of Jesus along with his two sisters. He wept when He heard of His friends death. It was a true human emotion that we see Him dealing with. Where did all those friends of Jesus go that He grew up with? Why were they not chosen to be His disciples?
Well, lets think about it. Jesus said that He needed to leave His town to preach. Why? How was it when you decided to either turn your life around and follow Jesus or when you talk about “the new life” with those who know you? Do they act like there is no change or how can they take you seriously because they know all that you have done? I can see it being a case where those around Jesus may have a hard time believing He is the Savior. I mean, here you know this guy for 15, 20, 30 years and never once did He say anything about it. Let alone what you think the idea of the “Savior” is, and it is not this guy sitting next to you this whole time. Jesus knew He had to strike out and move on in a new direction where people and yes friends will hear what He has to say. I think how they may have felt or thought after they realized who was by their side that whole time. The guy who you hung out with. Talked to. Worked beside. Was the Savior the whole time. How did I not see it? Why didn’t He tell me? I mean I knew He seemed different but... It is a double edge sword for some of them I would think. Some may have been fine with it while others may have been upset. Think how you may have felt when you learned something about your friend but they didn’t tell you themselves. How upset were you? Some of them may have felt the same. Yet, it had to be.
Jesus then says “ It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you”. He picked out those who He knew would follow Him and continue on after Him. He chose those people to be in His life and learn and love. I often think about in prayer how I would have responded to Him back then. Will I have been a follower, a friend or held back in the distance to just see who this Man was? The disciples were followers but also friends. They lived and traveled together and in time they did lay down their lives for their Friend, and Savior. For myself, I have always felt that Jesus was a friend, a brother and savior. May not have spoken to Him at times but the relationship has always been that. He is that friend that I can truly 100% be myself. There is no fooling Him and when I have even tried He has always called me out. I even think “Why did you chose me?” Seriously, why???? I mean, He knows me in and out, up and down, side to side. It is mind blowing and an honor. I am not worthy at all to call Him my Savior let alone friend. When I am at adoration or when during mass the Eucharist is raised, I find it so hard to look right at Him. I have to close my eyes or at the least keep my head bowed down. That was not always the case but as my relationship with Him has deepened, so has my love and understanding of who He was and is in my life.
These past blogs and the closing of this one has shed light on Friendships in my life, my relationship and friendship with Jesus and how both are intertwined in my life. From those friendships that are fully opened with my Faith and Jesus to those where it is only one sided. Then that one on one relationship with Jesus where I feel I can sit anywhere with Him and just talk like we are old friends. There is also those times where I have to say when sitting with a fellow believer that at times it does seem exactly like sitting with Jesus. You know He is using them to help and guide you. They are being given just the right words that you know Jesus is whispering into their souls to share with you because He knows right now you need it. That you need to hear it from both your friends. I hope that you have been able to gain some understandings of your own relationships, friendships and even looked at your relationship with Jesus.
What have I learned?
- Without Jesus, my relationships do not have the same depths as the ones I have with Jesus.
- I must always bring Jesus into all my relationships even if it is only one sided.
- Jesus chose me but I need to say yes.
- A friendship with Jesus is all open and all loving.
- My friendships are not by chance. There is a reason for each one.
- Jesus is always with me and I bring Him along with me every time. The good and the bad.
- Jesus will always be there and in the relationships.
What did you learn?
I want to Thank You all for reading the Four Part blog. May each one of you find the peace within your relationships and feel comfortable to be able to just sit down with Jesus no matter what it is over.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may Jesus always be our best friend and savior.
Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 307
Reading 1
HEB 2:14-18
Since the children share in blood and Flesh,
Jesus likewise shared in them,
that through death he might destroy the one
who has the power of death, that is, the Devil,
and free those who through fear of death
had been subject to slavery all their life.
Surely he did not help angels
but rather the descendants of Abraham;
therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God
to expiate the sins of the people.
Because he himself was tested through what he suffered,
he is able to help those who are being tested.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8a) The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name;
make known among the nations his deeds.
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations—
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
JN 10:27
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord.
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
MK 1:29-39
On leaving the synagogue
Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.
They immediately told him about her.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them.
When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.
Rising very early before dawn,
he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.”
So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons
throughout the whole of Galilee.
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