When Life Cliques

I can be rather quirky (no commentary please) and I attract a like group of friends around me. I always have. (Just ask my Mother.) I like it that way. It makes it far more interesting to have friends who are not like me and who are not like each other.

In school, I always got along with the pretty people (although I was not one of them – just ask my brother); I got along with the smart, nerdy people (although I too was not one of them – again just ask …you get the gist); I got along with the jocky, athletic types, as well as the shy, silent people.

My current state of friendships is solid, vast and diverse. Like snowflakes, no two of my friends are alike (although several are flaky – Lord love ‘em). And as happens with diverse friends not everyone gets along all the time. That’s going to happen when people with different temperaments, philosophies, goals, world views and personalities get together. Luckily, my friends and I don’t live together so we keep any differences down to a dull roar.

But what if we did live together? And what if we worked together too? I would bet you my dear friends would not stay my dear friends for very long. Not on purpose, mind you, but because that’s human nature. It’s hard for people who are not family relations to share all that time and space together and not drive each other crazy at some point.

So, I have to admit I don’t know how they did it. What did they know about getting along that I don’t? 12 grown men. All with different backgrounds and careers gave up everything to follow 1 man and be His clique. His posse. His friends. Full time. And not kill each other in the process.

The faithful 12 followed Jesus wherever He went. They watched as He performed miracle after miracle including healing the blind (Luke 7:21), the sick (Luke 7:10), helped Him feed thousands with the 5 loaves and 2 fish (Matt 14:17-21), and calming the raging storm by speaking to the wind (Luke 8:24-25).

I have always assumed that the disciples knew each other, liked each other and got along. That Matthew, John, Simon-Peter, Philip, Bartholomew, Andrew, James (son of Zebadee), James (son of Alphaeus), Thomas, Simon, Judas, and Judas Iscariot (the one who betrayed Jesus) were one big band of brothers. Well, maybe not so much. (Did you notice Mark and Luke were not part of the original 12?)

Turns out they had disagreements too. Matthew was a tax collector. Those guys were about as popular in Jesus’ day as IRS agents today (not to disparage the IRS but the truth must be told). I can imagine fisherman Simon a/k/a Peter didn’t get along too well with moneyman Matthew. John thought himself pretty great. In his gospel he constantly refers to himself not by name but in the third-person “the one who Jesus loved” – like he was pointing out to the others Jesus liked him best. (I’d punch a guy like that in the face after about five minutes.) And you think back-stabbing Judas was real popular with the guys?

But they all put their differences aside. Put their focus on their common goal – the bigger picture – Jesus. The end-game was more important than them as individuals. Jesus was Lord and about to become Savior and spreading that message was vitally important – more important than any petty personality conflicts or differences of opinion.

I’m certain it was hard. After all these men walked away from their own families and friends and jobs to walk with and be friends with Jesus. Someone they had just met. After His resurrection they each could have gone home and picked up where they left off. But they didn’t. They went their separate ways but to continue spreading the message individually what they had started together. And all because of Jesus’ simple request of friendship “Come follow me.”

When nobody else believed, when nobody else would follow, when nobody else would answer His call those 12 did. And their friendship changed the world.

Jesus is making the same simple request of friendship to each of us. Will you let Him be your friend and you be His? It just might change your world.

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