Day 252: Don't be ashamed – Luke 9 vs 22 - 36

22 Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed. And on the third day be raised to life.” 23-25 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

28-29 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30-31 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendour, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem.  32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.  As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.) 34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.  35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”  36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen. Luke 9:18-36 New International Version

In the verses just before these ones Peter had spoken for the disciples and said that they believed that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah God had promised. But, contrary to what they probably thought the response of the Jewish nation to the Messiah would be, Jesus spoke of rejection, crucifixion and resurrection rather than a warm welcome by all. Then he adds the words we see in vs 23-26. What does that tell you the disciples needed to prepare for if they were going to stay loyal to Jesus?

Surely it meant that, just as Jesus was going to experience rejection by so many and be put to death, they needed to be ready to lay down their lives if they identified themselves as his followers. The cross would be a spectacle of shame when he was put to death as a criminal – but they were not to be ashamed of him then. They were going to be scorned by many people for being his disciples – but they were still not to be ashamed of him. They were to love Jesus even more than their own lives. This is still true for anyone who becomes a follower of Jesus Christ. There may be times when you're mocked and ridiculed, are despised and even attacked. We must take vs 26 to heart and be willing to suffer all manner of shame if we have to.

What’s at stake? Well, Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God. And eight days later he granted three of the disciples a glimpse of the glory of that kingdom. (vs 28-29) They saw Jesus shining with a radiance that was not of this world. They also saw two men who had lived from 800 to 1400 years earlier! Moses was famous for passing on God's law to Israel and Elijah was famous as the fearless prophet who had shown Israel that the God of Moses was the only true God. Then a cloud had covered the mountain and they had heard the voice of God proclaiming that Jesus was His chosen Son. And what did God say they were to do? (vs 35)

That's what being a follower of Jesus is all about. We need to listen to him. We need to pay attention to all he said and live our lives by it. Even if it leads to ridicule and rejection. We must never be ashamed of confessing him as the Messiah and the Son of God. He is coming back one day robed in personal glory and the glory of the Father. There's nothing to be ashamed of.