John 15:9-17
[Jesus said:] 9“As the Father has loved me, so
I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will
abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his
love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that
your joy may be complete.
12 “This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has
greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my
friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer,
because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called
you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from
my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go
and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever
you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love
one another.”
Reflection
1 What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
ev'rything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit;
oh, what needless pain we bear
all because we do not carry
ev'rything to God in prayer!
He stood on the bank of the river Bann, watching his fiancé ride over the bridge, approaching on her horse. She was arriving to what was supposed to be the happiest time of his life the very next day. Joseph Scriven and this beautiful woman were to be married. But, she never made it to the other side of the bridge. He watched helplessly as she unexpectedly slid off her horse, fell into the river, and never returned to the surface.
“Oh, what needless pain we bear,” Joseph writes later as he penned, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Joseph knew pain intimately. It came to him whenever the image of his love falling into the water flashed through his memory.
Running from his pain, in 1844 he moved to Woodstock, Canada. He thought that getting far away from the horror of that day would help ease the blow. What he did not realize, until later, was that he did not need to get away. What he actually need was a friend. He needed the unconditional love of a friend who would remain with him, even though he was prone to flee. He needed a friend who would remain with him; willing to shoulder the heavy load of griefs and sins that he was carrying. He soon came to realize that he already had such a friend: Jesus. Jesus said:
“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide [or remain] in my love. If you keep my commandments [to love], you will abide [remain] in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide [remain] in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete [filled up]” (John 15:9-11).
Though he had wandered, Jesus stuck with Joseph, as friends do, and his friend’s love, Jesus’ love, eventually filled him with joy.
Here is the thing about being filled with love and joy: it is a coffee cup that overflows and spills on others at the table; it is a coke bottle stuffed with Mentos that explodes soda on everyone standing near; it is laughter that seeps through everyone at the most inappropriate of times, like the communion rail, or a wedding, or during the final silent pause during the climax of the Halleluiah Chorus.
About this expansive love, Jesus instructs:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
Allowing Jesus’ unconditional love to spill on others is not hard when Jesus has poured so much of it on us. Joseph’s love spilled on the people in his faith community to whom he preached, the Plymouth Brethren fellowship, and on the students of the private school that he organized and taught. To all of them, he gave his time, his talents, and his life. To all of them, he became a friend, just as Jesus was a friend to him.
In fact, he became a faithful, devoted friend to the railway construction workers who were building the Grand Trunk Railway across the Canada West. He sat by the rail-side reading the Bible to them as they worked. He was there every day for these men, keeping them company, occupying their minds, and giving them faith as they toiled under the blistering sun. These workers could not come to him to worship, so he went out to them. That is what a true friend does.
Jesus says, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13).
Joseph did not die for his friends, as Jesus did, but he did give his life over to them. But, it was another person’s pain, weakness, and despair that drove Joseph to complete his song.
2 Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our ev'ry weakness
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Joseph finished his song about Jesus and his friendship, and though it is by far his most popular hymn, it was not included in his collection of hymns and poetic works. Joseph Scriven published a collection of his poetic works, Hymns and Other Verses, which included seventy-one hymns “intended to be sung in assemblies of the children of God on the first day of the week and on other occasions when two or three are met together in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” was not included. In fact, it was never published by Joseph himself.
Instead, it is believed to have been sent into the world by his mother, for whom it was written. When he heard that his mother was extremely ill, Joseph wrote this very personal reflection on John 15:9-17, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and sent it to his Mother in Dublin. It shared the Biblical wisdom that he had gained when Jesus was a friend to him during his time of trial and pain.
It touched his mother’s heart so much that she made certain that the song was published and disseminated to others. As was mentioned before, love and joy has a tendency to spill out everywhere, so that others can bask in the goodness of the Lord.
Unfortunately, Joseph would need to return to the words of his own song as tragedy returned to his life once again. Joseph’s second fiancée, Eliza Catherine Roach died of an illness shortly before their wedding. But, Joseph’s friend, Jesus, was with him. Though Joseph was struggling for a tragic second time, Jesus had chosen Joseph, and Jesus was not going to let him go. This is the truth that we read in the Bible:
“I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.” (John 15:15-16).
“Take it to the Lord in prayer,” Joseph sings. You may not know what to do or where to turn when tragedy strikes, but you do not need to know those things. Jesus, your friend, has chosen you. Jesus is listening. Ask and Jesus will hear. Jesus will take our prayer to God the Father, and God the Father will provide. After-all, Jesus is our friend. That is what friends do.
So, as a friend of Jesus, Joseph did not give in to the threat of despair. His friend still filled him with love in abundance, and Joseph allowed that love to spill all over the place. Hymnologist Albert Bailey noted that Joseph Scriven, a selfless person by nature, was known as “the man who saws wood for poor widows and sick people who are unable to pay” (Bailey, 1950, p. 495).
Befitting of Joseph’s giving nature, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” still speaks to those who are weak and burdened to this day. Joseph’s reflection on Jesus’ words about love and friendship still fill us with love and joy in abundance.
3 Are we weak and heavy-laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you?
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
In his arms he'll take and shield you;
you will find a solace there.
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