Not ashamed of gracious love!

Reflecting on Mark 8:34-38

"If anyone is ashamed of me and my words..." (Mark 8:38)

What are the words that Jesus is talking about?
It was not His claim to be messiah that shamed or disgusted them.
They were eager and hopeful for the messiah to come.
It was how He was acting as messiah that shamed them.
He was speaking and acting like a weakling, a wimp.
They loved that He talked about love for them.
But not love for Romans, tax collectors, sinners…
Not love that stooped to touch lepers, children and bleeding women.

What some, especially the religious, stumbled on, was His radical love.
His words extended God’s grace way beyond their preferred boundaries.
Jesus represents the fullness of God’s gracious love.
Those who reject God’s gracious love, reject their own hope for it.

‘Those who refuse to extend God’s gracious love with others
Burn the bridge by which God’s gracious love comes to them.’

“The Son of Man will be ashamed of them…” (Mark 8:38)
But why would Jesus be ashamed of such people?
Jesus is not just being petty (if you don’t like Me, I won’t like you!).
Just as His words lead to His actions, so do the words of those who are ashamed.
Their rejection of gracious love makes them ungracious, unloving.
Jesus will be ashamed of people who are cruel, who lack compassion.
Jesus will not stand with those who willfully demean or damage others.
The proud, the arrogant, the abusive, the malicious…
Jesus cannot put in a good word to God for such people!

For years I thought people had to believe the right things to be saved.
As I suggested yesterday, no one actually believes everything correctly.
Furthermore, I do not really believe something until I strive to live it out.
If I believe a bridge is safe to cross, I should actually cross it.
To believe that gracious love is God’s Way means to strive to live that way.
Those who reject gracious love as God’s way will not strive to live that way.
Believing something does matter, but it needs to translate into action.

Jesus looks at the fruit of peoples’ lives to see what they really believe.
Are they striving – even if imperfectly – to be gracious and loving.
He looks for sincere intention, not technical perfection.
He can tell which disciples really accept His words of love.
He can also tell which disciples are ashamed to accept His words of love.

Paul makes it clear that love, not faith alone, is the key.

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

James also makes it clear that the real test of believing is by living.

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:14-17)

John is in full agreement, calling for love in action and truth.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:16-18)

Jesus is not ashamed of those who believe or love imperfectly.
But He is ashamed of those who do not believe in, or live by love.
Jesus is not ashamed by athiests who demonstrate mercy, compassion, kindness.
Jesus is ashamed of believers who claim to believe, but refuse to live it.
We should be thankful that Jesus is ashamed of cruelty and abuse.
We ourselves should be ashamed of cruelty and abuse, and resist it.
We should cling to Jesus’s gracious love – for ourselves, and for others.

When Jesus returns in glory, the whole world will be filled with gracious love.
Those who all their lives longed for it, lived for it, will eagerly welcome it.
But will those who resisted and rejected it be happy in that world?
Or will they respond the same way some people responded to Jesus the first time?
Will they see it as weakness, and refuse to enter into it?
Would people who do not want gracious love now, want it for eternity?
Do I want it for eternity… am I seeking it now already?

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, religion puts the emphasis on right thinking. You put the emphasis on right loving, which shows what we really think. Our actions reveal whether we are drawn to, or ashamed by, Your message of radical gracious love.

Lord Jesus, I accept Your message of gracious love, for me and for others. Help me to show it more and more in how I relate to others... even if it means that some people are ashamed of how gracious and loving I am.