Are You Going on with Jesus?

The thing that struck me in today's Scripture passage is how clearly Christ knows our weakness -- the certainty that we will fail him -- and yet he calls us friends. Oswald jumps off from verse 28: "You are those who have stood by me in my trials." The irony, however, is that these words are said at the Last Supper -- just before the Garden of Gethsemane where his best friends fall asleep when he asks them to pray and then desert him when he is arrested. Peter denies even knowing Christ -- not just once but three times. And Jesus knows all of this -- predicts Peter's betrayal -- when he says the words Oswald uses in today's devotional: "You are those who have stood by me."

Make no mistake, Barb. You are weak. You know it. God knows it. And yet, he calls you his friend. He sees you. He knows you. He remembers you. He loves you. Just as you are.