Following Judah's Lion

Our One True Friend

Greater love hath no man than a man lay down his life for his friends.

Friends? Us? That is very hard for me to process, not that Jesus died for the ungodly or that Jesus died for sinners, but that Jesus uses the word “friends” in describing us. Don’t forget to include the word “ungodly” when you speak of us as Jesus’ friends. What are some of the attributes you would associate with a friend?

A friend should be caring. Who would consider a person a friend who did not care for them? Do you not care for those who you consider friends and does their welfare concern you. A true friends cares what his friend thinks and is interested in hearing his perspective about almost everything. Even some criticism, the wounds of a friend, are of care to a person’s friend. But what kind of friend were we to the Lord Jesus? He came to purchase for us an eternity in glory and He did not ask us to participate, no, He was willing to die for His friends. Yes, He desired to be friends, not in an earthly and informal way, but in a caring and intimate way. But we not only rejected His friendship, we were fully complicit in His death. A cruel death. Not just some quiet, painless process that would quickly let Him pass, no, the death of the cross which sometimes sounds sentimental but in reality was a brutal, shameful, and agonizing death. Only the worst criminals were crucified and we stood by, and even watched, as this divine “friend” shed His very blood for us. He wasn’t even ashamed to call us, the sinners who caused His death, his “friends. Some friends, huh?

A friend should be respectful. Friends stick up for one another and will rebuke those who would make fun of their friends. Friends will not talk ugly about another friend even while not in their company and they are hurt when their friend is ridiculed. And while Jesus was being crucified, in the very ACT of crucifixion, the depravity of His friends were not satisfied with that humiliation. Oh no, we had to make fun and mock Him, and in an act of such infinite contempt we shouted “He saved others but He cannot save Himself”. Thus we not only belittled His salvation we judged Him a sinner in need of His own salvation. And all this while the blood oozed from His divine veins. All this while the angels of glory cringed. All this while the Father’s heart broke. Some friends, huh?

A friend should carry burdens. True friends want to ease the load and carry the grief’s and fears that all flesh sometimes experiences. A friend cannot stand to see his friend cry and become overcome with grief no matter how insignificant the cause may seem. A friend draws a sense of intimacy and fulfillment by interceding on the behalf of a friend and extending comfort and solace in any time of need. But as the King of Friends took up a large and heavy wooden cross and hobbled down the Via De La Rosa, his so called friends refused to lend even a hand seeking only to protect themselves from any harm. Footstep after painful footstep journeyed this Friend while His fair weather friends actually watched Him, the one who they had supped with, stumbled toward the place of the skull. The one who had healed them and carried their loads. The one who had extended His life to serve theirs. The one who had allowed Himself to be taken so that they could go free. Oh yes, we all watched with sadness, but not enough to help or even care. Some friends, huh?

But friends will not usually give their very lives for mere friends. A friend will do many things for his friends and depending upon the depth of the friendship it will include almost everything short of giving up their lives for this friend. The Scriptures rightly say “scarcely” will a friend die for another because he usually values his own life more than his friendship. So why would this pure and holy sacrificial Lamb give His life for His friends, which without being viewed through God's eyes of grace are every bit His enemies. His enemies? Yes they are, as Spurgeon observed, His weapon carrying and actively rebellious enemies. They care nothing for Him and are ultimately interested in their own survival and pleasure. His welfare, much less His friendship, is not pursued or even desired. Let Him go to His death as long as we are not involved and like Peter we can claim “we never knew the man”. Some friends, huh?

But this Friend gives His life for His enemies. With the full knowledge of what He was doing this Friend chooses a journey through the “joy that was set before Him” and in full surrender to the Father’s will He will be bruised and tortured, whipped and mocked, and bleed like a lamb before the slaughter. And this “joy” that the Word speaks of is inherant within the slaughtered spectacle Himself and by a divine mystery the One who was the object of this timeless murder at the hands of hateful sinners reveals His true identity, the Friend of sinners. Covered in His own divine blood, bruised for our iniquities, swollen by our pummels, dripping with our spit, crowned with our curse, and ornamented with the mocking of His own creations…here He is. Feast your eyes upon He who knew no sin and elicited no personal sentence. Gaze upon the shame of your own rebellion. Cast your eyes upon the reward you meted out upon this Friend who sought you out. There He is, mangled and now dead.

This is the infinite betrayal.
He came unto His own and His own received Him not.
The Lord of Glory. The Savior of the World. The Lamb of God. The Scapegoat. The Lion of Judah.
And as He can only be recognized by a soul that has been redeemed by His blood…

The Only Friend the World Has Ever Had.