It is incredible to think that it was Jesus’ own people who demanded he be put to death. He actually told His disciples that this would be how it would happen.

And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Matthew 10:36

The prophet Micah sets the scene and it’s heart-breaking,

for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. Micah 7:6

John spells it out:

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. John 1:11

The unwelcome Christ……….. the words in our passage are,

You delivered me from strife with my people; you kept me as the head of the nations; people whom I had not known served me. 2 Samuel 22:44

These words reach much further than David’s experiences with his own sons, Amnon and Absalom. They describe with painful, prophetic insight the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ ministry, arrest, trial, death and resurrection. The covenant community of the Jews were the ones to reject Him. You delivered me from strife from my own people!

Peter was one of Jesus’ most trusted friends. He was with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry. He had left everything to follow Jesus.

Peter was the first to proclaim Jesus as Lord and one of the few that saw Jesus in all his glory at the Transfiguration. All of this makes the story of Peter’s denials that much more poignant. After Judas betrayed Jesus and the soldiers arrested him, Peter followed them to the High Priest’s house. As he stood outside by the fire, waiting to hear what would happen, those in the courtyard recognised him as one of Jesus’ followers. He was Jesus’ friend,

And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. Luke 22:59-62

Jesus knows the pain of broken friendships. He knows what it’s like when friends fail us, reject us, and abandon us. “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”

He was also rejected by those he had grown up with in his hometown of Nazareth (Mark 6:4). Perhaps some of those who had waved palm branches and laid down their cloaks as Jesus entered Jerusalem just one week earlier were now shouting, “Crucify him!” At his arrest, all his disciples fled and abandoned him when he needed them most (Matthew 26:31), and then on the cross, he bore the full weight of rejection when the Father poured out his wrath upon him for our sins. “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)

The rejection Jesus endured shows me that he is my perfect forever faithful friend. His love for me is not fickle. It’s not dependent upon what I do for him, and it does not change.

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

There is a lot to say on how Jesus is our friend and I will probably miss something out, but my point is this, He will not treat you as He has been treated. However, you might ask, how is it even possible to maintain a close, intimate friendship with someone whom you can’t see, someone who lived and died 2,000 years ago?  Here is how:

Jesus is just as much alive today as he was when he walked the earth. Indeed, he is more alive today because he has been raised from the dead and lives in a glorified body and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He is, at every moment, aware of every word we speak, every thought that passes through our minds and every circumstance we face day in and day out. Not even your closest earthly friends can do that but Jesus can because he is omniscient. He knows everything! He sees everything! He sovereignly rules over every detail of your daily existence.

Jesus is not physically present on earth but He is spiritually present in us through the indwelling presence of the person of the Holy Spirit. He has not abandoned His disciples and He has not abandoned you and me. He is here, with us and in us at all times through the Holy Spirit whom he sent to indwell us. Jesus is closer to me than any friend. He is closer to me than my own wife, and so he is to you as well if you know him as Saviour.

Jesus constantly communicates with us. We are in communication with Jesus through prayer. He hears every groan, every sigh, every request, every utterance whether spoken or silent. But we are also in communication with Jesus when he speaks to us. He speaks to us every time we open the Bible, this wonderfully inspired and written revelation of who he is and what he has promised always to do for us. I’m hearing Jesus speak to me right now as I write this blog.  I have been asking Him to speak to me from 2 Samuel 22. The point simply is this, that Jesus sustains our close and intimate friendship with him by listening when we talk to him and by speaking to us through Scripture and also through the voice of His Spirit who lives within us.

Jesus constantly prays for us. You know you have a good friend on earth when they commit to praying for you, perhaps weekly or even daily but sometimes they forget. Sometimes life becomes so mad or busy that they fail to find time to pray for you in a meaningful and sustained manner but not Jesus. Paul said it plainly in Romans 8

“Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us”

So, let’s finish with this reminder. What a friend we have in Jesus!