The movement from servant to friend. John 15:15
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends.
Up to this point it strikes me Jesus did not look at or consider his disciples as friends. They were servants. He expected them to follow and obey him based on incomplete knowledge and understanding. They did not yet know their master’s business. The Greek word for disciple is mathetes and it means a learner. They had been learning along the way as Jesus’ apprentices from his teaching, modeling, demonstration and debriefing. They made errors and misjudgments and experienced outright failure at times. At other times their successes fed their ambitions more than their faith. Still, at other points they hit the bullseye and enjoyed the deep fulfillment of life as a servant of Jesus.
It strikes me that this graduation to friendship commenced when Jesus identified himself as their servant by washing their feet. Following this he brought them into the inner circle, sharing with them the intimate inter-relationships of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, into which they would soon be initiated. (i.e. everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.)- J.D. Walt