December 2nd

”Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13

If you know me (or even if you've ever seen me from a distance), it's no secret that I have a lot of tattoos. Plenty of my tattoos point to Jesus in some way, but only two directly quote Scripture, and one of those two is John 15:13. It is one of my FAVORITE verses in the whole Bible. As a counselor, this Scripture is foundational. It says so much about what love is—and what it is not.

When the person who is the living manifestation of eternal, timeless, and deathless love tells you, “There is no greater love than what I’m about to tell you,” it’s time to perk up and pay attention. With that in mind, here’s what stands out to me the most after 20 years of meditating on this verse since getting it tattooed on my arm: the word "friends." Jesus is commenting on how His coming sacrifice is the ultimate example of great love, but His use of the word "friends" is EVERYTHING to me in this verse. The love we have for our family is a great love, but it’s mitigated by the fact that we are culturally, socially, and genetically obligated to care for our relatives. The love we have for our work is great, but most of us have to go to work. The love we have for our romantic relationships is great, but it carries the price of a desire to be loved. But the love we have for our friends—the flawed humans we choose to share ourselves with—is the greatest love there is on this earth. Even animals will give their lives for their offspring, and some will give their lives to defend their blood relations, but for one to sacrifice themselves for those they’ve chosen, and who’ve chosen them, is the greatest and most human love.

The big takeaway is this: Jesus chose us, not as servants, but as friends. The men He is speaking to in this passage revered Him as the Messiah, or at a minimum, as their Lord. But Christ, in His perfect love, chose to call them friends. It is good and right for us to throw ourselves at the feet of the Living Word, through whom all things were created, but it is in the nature of that same God, born in a manger, to warmly embrace us as we bow. He puts His hand under our chin, lifts our eyes to His, and says, “Arise, friend.”

-Matt Fisher