If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you in my Father’s glory!

Felecia Teasley
Mark 8:27-38
27Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
29″But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Christ.[a]”
30Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
31He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Born into a generation of sin we’ve learned of the life of Jesus. His teachings, his sense of humor, his friendship and his ultimate sacrifice for our lives and sins so that we can enter into his fathers’ glory without shame.

If you listen carefully, Jesus will plainly speak to you with direction and guidance. Some things that are said are easier to accept than others. But, like Peter, we want to correct God’s plans if it is something that we do not agree with or want to hear. We will rebuke God, tell him how we think things should be and will wait for a change. As if it would really happen our way.

Imagine if Jesus stopped his mission for us and continued on a path based upon the thinking of a man that he selected to follow him. Would Jesus have died on the cross for our sins or have risen? Peter, like us sometimes, failed to understand having confessed Jesus as being Christ did not give him the authority to correct Jesus or his mission for us. No wonder Jesus stopped and turned to his disciples and rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!”

Why confess that Jesus is Christ if you won’t listen to him and be ashamed of him?

Warning: “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Felecia Teasley
Nashville, Tennessee