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Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers (Hebrews 2:11).

Jesus isn’t ashamed of you.

Jesus isn’t ashamed of you.

Jesus, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, is not ashamed of you.

Jesus does not approach you dressed in a hazmat suit and a ten-foot-long pair of tongs.  He doesn’t approach you with grim determination, with a clothespin on his nose, or a face contorted in anger or disappointment or disgust.

Jesus is not ashamed to embrace you as a beloved brother, a dearly-treasured sister.

“Yes but – “we may be quick to reply.  “I am sinful … rebellious … weak … selfish, self-obsessed … and I could go on and on and on and…”

The great news is that God’s grace in Christ goes on and on and on and on, far beyond everything we could ever list.

What’s going on here has everything to do with Jesus, not with us.  Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory, the precise expression of who God is.  And, Hebrews 2 tells us, God’s intention from the beginning has been to create one human family, a family who would represent God faithfully and fruitfully.  A family who would share in God’s glory, and share in the radiating of that glory out through all of Creation.

But such a great salvation cannot be authored by us.  The story of bringing a whole family, many sons and many daughters, to glory can only be authored by God, “for whom and through whom everything exists” (2:10).  It can only be authored by one who shared fully in our humanity and our weaknesses, one who, knowing no sin, was nevertheless willing to be made perfect through suffering.

What Jesus suffered on the cross was manifold.  He suffered rejection and abandonment by his closest friends, separation from the God he called Abba.  He suffered the deepest emotional anguish, verbal abuse, physical torture.  He suffered under the weight of our guilt, our rebellion and disobedience, our sin.  He suffered Love’s rejection of everything opposed to Love.  He suffered Holiness’ refusal to countenance all that has been profaned.  Jesus suffered the public humiliation and shaming that crucifixion was designed to deliver.

Jesus suffered and was shamed for us.  With us.  As us – in our place.

Jesus became fully what we are, that we might become fully who he is: the Beloved of God.  A member of God’s one family, a beloved son, a beloved daughter.

Therefore: Jesus is not ashamed of you.

What are the places in your soul, in your life, of which you are deeply ashamed?  Take some time in prayer now to voice those in God’s Presence.  Name them -- and leave them with God -- and receive his love for you in exchange.

Where do you see shame dynamics operating in the lives of those you know and love?  Pray for them, asking God to show them that, in Christ, Jesus is not ashamed of them.

Whom might we be tempted to not welcome and accept as a beloved sister or brother in Christ?  What kinds of people might we be tempted to shame?  Let’s pray now for our church that we would fully love the truth but never shame those whom Christ embraces as beloved sisters and brothers.