although each of them, and each clause of them, might afford ample
material for a discourse, because they have one common theme. They
are a description of what Christ's friends are to Him, of what He is
to them, and of what they should be to one another. So they are a
little picture, in the sweetest form, of the reality, the
blessedness, the obligations, of friendship with Christ.

I. Notice what Christ's friends do for Him.

'Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.' In the former
verse, 'friends' means chiefly those whom He loved. Here it means
mainly those who love Him. They love Him because He loves them, of
course; and the two sides of the one thought cannot be parted. But
still in this verse the idea of friendship to Christ is looked at
from the human side, and He tells His disciples that they are His
lovers as well as beloved of Him, on condition of their doing
whatsoever He commands them.

He lingers, as I said, on the idea itself. As if He would meet the
doubts arising from the sense of unworthiness, and from some dim
perception of how He towers above them, and their limitations, He
reiterates, 'Wonderful as it is, you poor men, half-intelligent
lovers of Mine, _you_ are My friends, beloved of Me, and loving Me,
if ye do whatsoever I command you.'

How wonderful that stooping love of His is, which condescends to
array itself in the garments of ours! Every form of human love Christ
lays His hand upon, and claims that He Himself exercises it in a
transcendent degree. 'He that doeth the will of My Father which is in
heaven, the same is My brother and sister and mother.' That which is