FRIENDS OF JESUS

   And after Jesus departed Nazareth to begin His ministry, He chose twelve men to be His disciples. In the course of time, however, many more people believed that Jesus was Messiah and they also became disciples.  We know that the Lord had more than a hundred followers, or disciples, for there where 120 on the Day of Pentecost.
   In the Gospel of John, Jesus said, Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth:  but I have called you friends; for all things I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.  (John 15: 14-15)
   As Jesus taught the disciples for three and a half years, He told them that He would die, how He would die, and that He would also be resurrected from death after three days. 
   Being human, what were the disciples supposed to believe upon hearing those three prophecies?  No one had never done that before!  Would doubt be a normal human reaction to words such as those?  It is one thing to believe after the fact, but what about before the fact?
   On the day when Christ was arrested, tried, and crucified, where were His disciples, His friends?  They had scattered.
   We may never know what was in the minds of the Lord's disciples in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified.  We can assume that one element could have easily been fear.  Perhaps the disciples feared for their own lives.  Maybe they thought that if people saw them that they, too, would have been grabbed and nailed to crosses just for being associates of Jesus.  Maybe they thought:  are they really doing this to Him?  Are they really going to kill an innocent man?  Perhaps the disciples were astonished that people could be so cruel.
   Even during the three days when Christ was dead, this was also a trying time for the disciples.  It was a time of waiting and also a time of anticipation.  Is He going to do it?  To be Messiah, Jesus had to come out of the tomb by His own power. 
   Jesus did.  He arose from death and came out of the tomb.  In so doing, He left His clothes in the tomb.  But He was not naked.  He arose in a glorified body, His body was completely healed, and His ruptured heart was beating again.  Jesus was clothed with light.  This is why Jesus is the Light of the world!  And His light shines in darkness to expose the sins of people.
   And after His resurrection, where were His disciples, His friends?  They regathered with Him!  And then, as He commanded them to do, they waiting for the Holy Spirit to empower them to take the Good News of Christ throughout the world.
   Jesus said, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  (John 15: 13)
   The evidence of Christ as the Saviour is the love He has for you, His friend, for the fact that he laid down His life for you, too.  The question here, however, is Jesus a friend of yours?  If you accept Him, then He will be your friend.  But if you reject His saving grace, this means that He is not your friend.