Friendship encompasses unwavering love, support, and encouragement, particularly in challenging times. It means being a helpful presence, forgiving one another, speaking truth with love, and prioritizing each other’s interests.
The story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 brings the theme of being a friend to life.
In this parable, Jesus responds to a religious expert’s question about how to inherit eternal life. The expert acknowledges that the law calls for loving God and one’s neighbor, but seeks clarification on who qualifies as a neighbor. Jesus narrates the tale of a man who, after being beaten by robbers, is ignored by a priest and a Levite but is compassionately helped by a Samaritan. The parable concludes with Jesus declaring that the true neighbor is the one who shows mercy, instructing the expert to “go and do likewise.
John 15:11-17 summarizes Jesus’s commands to his followers: to love one another as he has loved them, which is the greatest love possible, and to remain as friends by obeying him. He explains that this new status as a friend, not a servant, comes with the privilege of having the Father’s will revealed to them and with the promise that their prayers will be answered and their work will be fruitful.
