Recently, I reviewed The Ragamuffin Gospel, which factored heavily in my spiritual life in 2014. In the back of it are “mercies” that you go through one a day.
I wrote about them in my unpublished book A Ronin’s Journey: The Road To Redemption. That Grammar Gal, Nay, said I should do a blog post on the fifth mercy while going over my final chapter.
Okay, to set the scene, you’re out having coffee with a friend, two hot cups wafting steam between you. After small talk about the weather and their fashionable mask, you say, “I want to tell you about my new friend.”
“Okay. What’s their name?” is the reply.
“Jesus.”
“Okay…” your friend slowly answers, uncertainty crawling across their face.
Brennan, the author of the book, wants you to describe Jesus as your friend to this person. Jesus calls his disciples his friends.
“I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
John 15:15
How would you do it?
I’m looking across the table at you. Taking a sip of the next best thing to the living water Jesus described, I pause.
“Jesus is the guy who pulled me out of a bad spot. He cleaned me up and didn’t really ask for anything in return. Just don’t do it again and follow him. I saw him as a role model, the guy you didn’t want to disappoint. He’s someone I could go to for advice.”
This is true, but he’s also much more. I ask again, how would you describe Jesus as a friend?
A Ronin's Journey 