“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)

When Jesus spoke about this great love, and went on to tell his disciples that if they followed his commands he called them friends and not servants, he was foreshadowing the great sacrifice that he would make on their, and our, behalf.

Here in Genesis, we see that same, sacrificial love in Judah. For the sake of his brother, Benjamin, and also that of his father, Jacob, he petitions Joseph to let him take the punishment that should be Benjamin’s. His speech to Joseph is moving and sincere and demonstrates clearly the complete transformation that has taken place in his life.

Of course, Benjamin did not deserve the punishment because he had committed no crime. Judah knew that. On the other hand, we all have earned the wages of sin. Yet Jesus stood in our place anyway.

I wonder how Benjamin felt as he heard Judah’s words to Joseph. He might have expected Judah to plead on his behalf, to protest his innocence. Instead, he hears his older brother willingly offer to step into the punishment so that he could be released.

Benjamin could not have been unmoved at what he heard. He must surely have felt relief, and immense gratitude. Any one of us who has been rescued from our own predicament by a loving friend would surely feel the same – in fact, we are all in this position, being saved from the consequences of sin by our greatest friend, Jesus. What a privilege to be called ‘friend’ by the Son of Man! May we live a life that honours the sacrifice he made.

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NEWBOLD COMMUNITY CHURCH