¹⁵ “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

When did Jesus call His disciples slaves? Well, maybe not in those exact words, but certainly He referred to Himself as “master” and to them as “servants.” Earlier in this Upper Room scenario, clearly Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave [Grk: doulos] is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him” (John 13:16). More directly, He applied one of the parables directly to His followers, “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’ ” (Luke 17:10). Even in our rewards, Jesus invites us by use of a parable to see ourselves as slaves, “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ ” (Matt 25:23).

Now, in the Upper Room, just before He dies, Jesus raises their status to that of “friend” and to no longer think of themselves as slaves. The progression is important, in that we cannot come to friendship with Him unless we first see our rightful place as His servants. In other words, we cannot simply choose to be Jesus’ friend, He brings us into that circle of relationship. We must first see ourselves as slaves in order to position ourselves properly to receive His gracious invitation to friendship.

God is first and foremost Master, He is Lord! Our problem, and therefore the need for salvation, is that we all have rejected His Lordship in our lives. We have violated His commandments, we have contravened His moral imperatives. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Without getting into the whole debate of Lordship salvation, it is quite clear from Scripture that we need to repent as His creatures from our rebellion against Him. From the earliest message Jesus preached, we are to repent. That means to turn away from our rebellion and submit to Him, to the obedience of faith.

This is not a promise of obedience, for we can never be 100% obedient as a means of salvation. But it does mean that we who have come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ have turned from our wicked ways and turned to the living God, our Creator and our Master. And once that relationship has been straightened out, we are prepared to move to the next stage, that of friendship.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, thank You for choosing me as Your friend.