Have you ever wondered if Jesus had best friends?
I’ve never really thought of Jesus having friends. You just always think of him with the twelve disciples. But multiple times in scripture, Jesus spends quality time alone with Peter, James, and John. The most important is when he goes to the garden of Gethsemane and prays before he’s arrested:
32 They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.”33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed.
Mark 14:32-33
You just think of Jesus getting all his strength inwardly from the Father, and while that clearly is a majority of it, Jesus is still somewhat human. So when things get really bad, when it says Jesus’ soul is “crushed with grief,” he 
brings his three best friends along with him for some of the toughest moments of his life here on earth. And just like a friend, even great friends, they still make mistakes and let Jesus down by falling asleep.
But Jesus also brings his best friends along for some of his best moments here on earth. At the transfiguration, which I truly haven’t spent any time studying before other than what I’ve read right out of the bible, there are Peter, James, and John to see all these amazing miracles, Elijah and Moses, and they get to hear the voice of God.
2 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed,
Mark 9:2
Yeah, that’s pretty cool. Jesus even tells them to keep this event to themselves, even keep it from the other disciples, until after his death.
How cool would it have been to be Jesus’ best friend? To be there in those moments, both good and bad, to see things that not even the rest of the disciples got to see. They let him down and he doesn’t hold a grudge, he doesn’t get on the cross and say “I’m dying for everybody but Peter, James, and John; they let me down a few days ago, and I’m just not over that yet.” He forgives and continues on.
What’s even more amazing is that he does the same thing with us every time we sin and hurt him. He continues to forgive is and keeps loving us the same as before. He died on the cross for us knowing full well that we would continue to sin day after day, and he didn’t even blink about doing it.
And we’re not even his “best friends”.
Got any grudges you know you should be forgetting about and forgiving? I know I do.
Related posts:
