Friends with the CEO
“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
When I graduated from college, I went to work for a large multinational company. There, I had opportunities to meet the CEO but we didn't hang out together. I understood and respected his authority but I never had inside knowledge of his thoughts, and hopes, and dreams.
If not in real life, certainly on TV, we've seen people who are friends with the boss but who don't seem to contribute in any helpful way. Either they use the friendship to coast, or they abuse it for their own selfish purposes—sometimes at the boss's expense!
What a rare and wonderful privilege it is to be a friend, under authority. This is what Jesus invites us into. We have the opportunity to know his heart and to learn from him. But always with respect for his absolute authority over heaven and earth; respect the creature should have for his creator.
And as I think about the power of friendship + authority, I also wonder about a culture that increasingly rejects authority and is losing its understanding of friendship.
