Song of Solomon 5:16

Dear friends of God,

This evening’s Bible passage is a single line from the Song of Solomon 5:16: “This is my beloved and this is my friend.”

The Song of Solomon has traditionally been understood by the Church as a celebration both of God’s gift of human love and, poetically, of God’s love for his people and our love for God. What startles me here is that the bride (or the church) says of her beloved that he is also her friend. (Read out of context, her affirmation may seem to indicate two people, one her beloved and the other her friend, but in context the two are clearly the same: her beloved is also her friend.) The same then is true of our relationship with Christ: not only is he our beloved but he is also our friend.

Now, this may sound at first like something of a Christian cliché. We’re used to singing hymns like “Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” but I’m not sure that even these great hymns fully grasp what it means for Jesus to be our friend. To put it simply, our response to God’s love is often a passive one (albeit not in a bad sense): we receive God’s love, we rest in God’s love, we trust in God’s love. Friendship is a more active response: friends do stuff together, play together, laugh together. As very young children, if we were blessed with loving parents, we rested in their love and care. We weren’t able to do much else, besides complain loudly at times. But, even if we were well loved, we weren’t exactly “friends” with our parents. Our parents’ friends were other adults. Our friends were other children. Even now, as adults ourselves, being friends with a parent still seems just a tad awkward.

So, what would it be like truly to call Jesus our friend, not just as the one who gave his life for us, but as the one we enjoy hanging out with, the one who does stuff with us, the one with whom we can play, laugh, and sing? I’m not entirely sure, but I suspect COVID-19 has given us an opportunity to find out. Most of us are now stuck at home. Some of us have time on our hands. We’re missing our social life. Friends by phone and email aren’t quite the same as friends with us in person. So, we have the opportunity to spend more time with God in prayer, in reading his word, in doing jigsaw puzzles together (yes, this will take a vivid spiritual imagination), reading a book together, sharing a meal together, laughing together.

Our community group met via Google Hangout last night. We shared experiences, prayed together, and laughed a lot. Was our friend, Jesus, with us? Even though I couldn’t see his face on my phone, I’m sure he was present. (Theological justification: not only is God omnipresent but the Spirit of Christ lives in each of us.) And I’m sure he enjoyed our time together. That may sound weird, but if Jesus is not only our beloved but also—and no less—our friend, then he does friend stuff with us. And he can do stuff with each of us individually as well as in a group hanging out via Google.

I’d love to hear from some of you as to how you experiment, individually or in groups, with welcoming Jesus as a friend. I have a lot to learn about this. Some of you may be way ahead of me. But I do believe we have been given an opportunity in this time of crisis to cultivate a closer friendship with Jesus. He is our beloved and he is our friend.

Your brother in Christ,

Max