Jesus and friendships?

[henrikhank]

Hi!
If you’ve studied theology then I’ve got a question for you.
The Church talks about friendship with Jesus. When Jesus was here on earth he had a “beloved” disciple. It has been explained that as a human Jesus had different kinds of feeling and love for different people. It would be sad if Jesus just loved certain people with only Agape (i.e only one of the loves CS Lewis mentioned). Shouldn’t God love all people with the same love? How is it possible for Jesus (aka God) to have a “beloved” disciple when all people are beloved to Him? What if you went to Heaven and found out that Jesus loved all people a bit different? Doesn’t sound right?
Another thing is that we all know that it would be very difficult to have a relationship with someone who has too many relationships. If we go to Heaven then there would be many people there. It would be difficult, if we think in earthly terms, to have a deep relationship with Jesus if there would be eg.1 million saint in Heaven. I can’t imagine having a personal relationship with someone who has 1 million friends. Btw, I don’t like socialising in big groups.

I am only interested in getting the theologians responses to this.
I am aware that what I wrote might sound a bit strange to some people but it’s difficult to know exactly what to ask when you don’t know mich about this subject.

 

[Mintaka]

One of the main differences between God and a human is that God is able to transcend time and space. He can give infinite attention and love to every single human being. Jesus, being God as well as Man, was able to love everyone infinitely.

Now, that said…

God loves us as much as He can, but we can only experience as much of His love as we will allow ourselves to experience. God gave us free wills, so we can “lock God out” if we want to. Jesus can “stand at the door and knock” as much as He wants, but we can ignore Him and often do.

The difference between John and the older Apostles was that John was a very open person who responded to Jesus’ love. The other disciples and apostles loved Jesus and were loved by Him, but they couldn’t make their little legs walk to the Cross. John could.

Now, of course, you notice that Mary and a lot of the female disciples could also manage to make it to the Cross. In some ways, women tend to be more open to God’s love and to find certain kinds of response easier than men.

That doesn’t make us better; it just makes us different. There are definite disadvantages to being open and responsive. For instance, a lot of women are very credulous and gullible when approached in certain ways. A lot of women are so eager to show their love and do a man’s bidding that they change themselves in bad ways. But the same kind of quality can make great mystics, if one combines it with good sense.

But anyway… I had a point…

God loves us all equally, but His delight in us differs, because our response and growth in Him differs. He can also show His love different ways to different people, because He made us differently and He knows how to handle us the best way for our individual selves. So our rewards in eternal life will be different, even though each of us will get a just and generous reward.

(And we should be careful not to drive God to giving us Hell, as the most generous thing we let Him give us.)

 

[jcrichton]

Hi!
If you’ve studied theology then I’ve got a question for you.
The Church talks about friendship with Jesus. When Jesus was here on earth he had a “beloved” disciple. It has been explained that as a human Jesus had different kinds of feeling and love for different people. It would be sad if Jesus just loved certain people with only Agape (i.e only one of the loves CS Lewis mentioned). Shouldn’t God love all people with the same love? How is it possible for Jesus (aka God) to have a “beloved” disciple when all people are beloved to Him? What if you went to Heaven and found out that Jesus loved all people a bit different? Doesn’t sound right?
Another thing is that we all know that it would be very difficult to have a relationship with someone who has too many relationships. If we go to Heaven then there would be many people there. It would be difficult, if we think in earthly terms, to have a deep relationship with Jesus if there would be eg.1 million saint in Heaven. I can’t imagine having a personal relationship with someone who has 1 million friends. Btw, I don’t like socialising in big groups.

I am only interested in getting the theologians responses to this.
I am aware that what I wrote might sound a bit strange to some people but it’s difficult to know exactly what to ask when you don’t know mich about this subject.

Please make your request known in the Re: box!

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[grannymh]

Hi!
If you’ve studied theology then I’ve got a question for you.
The Church talks about friendship with Jesus. When Jesus was here on earth he had a “beloved” disciple. It has been explained that as a human Jesus had different kinds of feeling and love for different people. It would be sad if Jesus just loved certain people with only Agape (i.e only one of the loves CS Lewis mentioned). Shouldn’t God love all people with the same love? How is it possible for Jesus (aka God) to have a “beloved” disciple when all people are beloved to Him? What if you went to Heaven and found out that Jesus loved all people a bit different? Doesn’t sound right?
Another thing is that we all know that it would be very difficult to have a relationship with someone who has too many relationships. If we go to Heaven then there would be many people there. It would be difficult, if we think in earthly terms, to have a deep relationship with Jesus if there would be eg.1 million saint in Heaven. I can’t imagine having a personal relationship with someone who has 1 million friends. Btw, I don’t like socialising in big groups.

I am only interested in getting the theologians responses to this.
I am aware that what I wrote might sound a bit strange to some people but it’s difficult to know exactly what to ask when you don’t know mich about this subject.

The ultimate friendship with Jesus is when we are in the State of Sanctifying Grace. This State gives us a share in the Divine life of the Trinity. Sanctifying Grace is a habitual, supernatural gift which continues the work of sanctifying us–of making us “perfect,” holy and Christlike (sic). This definition is found in the CCC Glossary, Sanctifying Grace, page 898.

God infinitely loves all people because He calls all people to Himself. Genesis 1: 27.

It is our silly selves, which like to devise different characteristics of God’s friendship. That way, no one will notice that differences in friendship are our own because of our intellective free choices.