One approach to respond to this would be: You won’t get much benefit by being friends with Jesus. In the entire Bible, Jesus refers to only one person as a friend: Judas, who had come to betray him, was told by Jesus, “Friend, do what you came to do” (Matthew 26:50).
Nobody describes Jesus as his friend
The Bible makes no mention of Jesus being a buddy. Jesus is referred to as the “friend of tax collectors and sinner” in one place (Matthew 11:19). Here Jesus is paraphrasing what the broader populace has to say. He doesn’t dispute its veracity, though. However, it is really striking that we do not find a single case in which any of these tax collectors, sinners, or even Jesus’ disciples refer to him as a buddy.
Jesus is our Lord
People are astonished by Jesus when they truly get to know Him. They do not speak to Him as a buddy. Having Jesus as Lord is far more significant than having Jesus as a friend. He is referred to as “Lord” hundreds of times in the New Testament. It follows that our relationship with Jesus is first and foremost one of Lord. We are his servants; he is the King. We comply with his orders.
A condition to our friendship
There is one passage in which the Lord Jesus calls his disciples his friends: “You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:14,15).
Jesus calls us here his friends in the sense that He has no secrets for us. He has told us everything that the Father in heaven wanted Him to tell us. At the same time, there is a condition to our friendship with Jesus: we have to do what He commands us! Yes, we are friends, but we are in no way equals.
He is the best friend imaginable
“Best friend” comes to mind. If it is acceptable to refer to Jesus as our buddy, then He is unquestionably the greatest friend that could exist. Jesus informed us in John 15:13, “No one has greater love than this, that a person lay down his life for his friends.” He carried out the action. He is, therefore, our best buddy. Therefore, “What a friend we have in Jesus” is a fitting song to commemorate Jesus’ love for us.
However, the Bible’s witness indicates that the best response to Jesus’ declaration that “you are my friends” is “thank you, Lord!”
