Jesus Christ, as a Friend, embodies the ultimate expression of loyalty and love in our relationship with Him. He calls us friends, speaking on a human level to contrast His perfect friendship with even the best of human bonds. His declaration that greater love has no one than to lay down one's life for friends reveals the depth of His commitment, as seen in His own sacrifice. This act of friendship surpasses human understanding, for He chose to die while we were yet enemies, demonstrating incredible love by giving His life for us. His death was exceptional, not only because He did not have to die but also because He knew He would die, deliberately going to the cross for our salvation. Furthermore, His spiritual death—separation from the Father as He bore our sins—goes beyond any physical sacrifice we could offer, ensuring we never face such separation. As our Friend, Jesus Christ desires a reciprocal loyalty from us, expressed through obedience. He states that we are His friends if we do whatever He commands, calling for active, continuous, and complete obedience in all aspects of life. This obedience is not merely refraining from wrong but actively loving one another, praying, worshiping with others, and serving in practical ways. Day after day, without pause, we are to follow His commands in everything, approaching Him with humble submission to do whatever He asks. In this intimate relationship, nothing can separate us from the love of God the Father and Jesus Christ, rooted in His unwavering loyalty to His covenant with us. As members of His church, we are called to mirror this loyalty, fostering faithful friendships among brethren, united in truth and mutual encouragement. The question remains: are we truly Christ's friends, responding to His love with dedicated obedience?

Friendship is a crucial part of our development within God's church, and we must strive to have the mind of Jesus Christ in us. Our relationships with each other, and with those who will come after us, are vital to thinking and acting like our elder brother, Jesus Christ. True and lasting friendship must be based on the understanding available to us only through Him. Our friendship with Jesus Christ, through our calling and exposure to the truth, should bind us together with the same bond of affection to one another as it does with us to Him. This friendship takes tremendous effort to grow, but it provides the opportunity to have proper relationships in all other aspects of our lives. True friendship with Jesus Christ, and with each other, becomes stronger over years of faithfully believing and living the truth together, requiring consistent dedication and self-sacrifice towards God and each other. This is the friendship that endures through the grave and into the resurrection for eternity. Jesus is the friend of those who do the things that He says, and He is our friend, we are His friend, and we must be each other's friend.

As Passover approaches, Christians are called to focus intensely on their relationship with Jesus Christ. In the critical hours before His sacrifice, as recorded in John 15:11-19, Jesus imparts vital teachings to His disciples, emphasizing the depth of friendship with Him. He declares, "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you." He underscores this bond by choosing them out of the world, appointing them to bear lasting fruit, and commanding them to love one another as He has loved them, even to the point of laying down one's life for friends. This friendship with Jesus Christ is not only personal but extends to relationships within the Body of Christ, setting His followers apart from the world that hates them as it hated Him. God has ordained that His chosen produce fruit through loving relationships among His friends, amidst a world of enmity. This unique bond among the brethren is a critical aspect of the self-examination required for worthy participation in Passover, reflecting on whether one truly lives up to the responsibilities of being a friend of God in interactions with others.