Jesus is Not Ashamed of You
- by Wendy Cantrell #CCLBvoices
Matthew 1 presents the genealogy of Jesus including a few women who could not be considered perfect or traditional Jewish women. They were outsiders, women who committed questionable acts, some who sinned, some who were sinned against... And yet they are included in the genealogy when other women who might be more "acceptable" (Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel) are not named. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba (aka Uriah's wife), even Mary herself (an unwed mother) are part of Jesus's DNA.
The Reverand Wil Gafney Ph.D. tells us, "Jesus was not ashamed of his mama or any of his folk or the secrets and skeletons in their closets. That’s good news right there. Some of you are scandalous and some of you are scandalized and Jesus is not ashamed of any of us.”
Likewise, Hebrews 2: 11 states, "Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters [siblings]." Jesus, the holy one, the perfect combination of God and human, knows what being human is like, with all the temptations and feelings that goes with it. He makes us holy.
Not only is Jesus not ashamed of us, he loves us. A professor I had once said, "On those nights when I have tears in my eyes because I have sinned again, on those nights when I doubt everything, I say to myself Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so. It is the one truth that I know for certain." Jesus loves us. He is not ashamed.
Sit with that a minute. Jesus is not ashamed of you. Was there a time when you felt ashamed of actions you have taken? Were you ever ashamed of who you are? Were you ever made to feel ashamed? Jesus who makes people holy, is not ashamed. He calls you his brother, his sister, his sibling. He loves you.
Praise Jesus that he knows all about who we are, what we have done and what has been done to us, and yet he still loves us, he still calls us his family. Thank you Jesus for accepting us, for loving us, for not being ashamed of us.