Every family seems to have a cousin Eddie; you know Clark Griswold’s dimwitted, out of work, homeless cousin from the National Lampoon movies. My favorite scene of cousin Eddie is the one where he is smoking a cheap cigar and wearing work boots and his wife’s robe as he empties the sewage from his run-down Winnebago into the road drain in front of Clark Griswold’s affluent suburban home.
We all seem to have a cousin Eddie, that is a relative who seems oblivious to all social norms, whose behavior is embarrassing, and whose poor life choices is a constant source of shame for the family. Typically, we do our best to distance ourselves from these family members. Saying things like, “that is my wife’s cousin” or “my husband’s sister” or “my mother’s husband” we hope to show that the connection between us and them is tenuous at best. When necessity forces us to acknowledge their place in our family tree, we refer to them as the black sheep of the family; we want to make it clear that they are different than the rest of the sheep in our family and that their embarrassing behavior and poor life choices are not something that we approve of. And when, despite our best efforts to avoid these family members, we find ourselves in the same room with them our shame shows itself in the cold reception we give them. Disapproving glances, aloof body language, and sarcastic responses make it clear that we want nothing to do with them; that we are ashamed to call them family. (My description concerning the way we treat these family members is so accurate because I have sadly had a great deal of experience in these things.)
I don’t know about you, but I am glad Jesus isn’t ashamed of His family members the way we are ashamed of some of ours. Today we are going to find comfort in the knowledge that Jesus is not ashamed to call us family and it is my prayer that this comfort will motivate us to reevaluate the way we treat certain members of our family.
In Hebrews 2:9-18. We learn that Jesus is not ashamed of us. Which is remarkable really, especially when we realize the humiliations we have caused our heavenly Father. Ephesians 5:12 tells us, “For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.” We might be too ashamed to talk about some of the things our relatives have done. Because of poor life choices we might not always be proud to claim certain people as part of our family. Jesus could say, ‘trust me I know how you feel.’ Just because our sins may not at the moment be as public as the sins of others, just because the consequences of our actions may not devastating, that does not mean that our sins, the ones we keep hidden in the secret parts of our hearts, are not as shameful. Remember Jesus considered lust to be as shameful as adultery and He considered hate to be as shameful as murder. Examine your hearts and no doubt you will find that Jesus has reason to be embarrassed by you. Examine your hearts and no doubt you will see that Jesus has reason to be ashamed of you. You deserve the disapproving glance, aloof body language, and sarcastic response. You deserve to have Jesus tell you He wants nothing to do with you.
Jesus has more reason than we to be ashamed of His brothers and sisters. And yet we read in verse 10, “10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. When I first read that the author of our salvation is made perfect through suffering, I thought it sounded a little odd. Why did Jesus need to be made perfect when 1 Peter 1:22 tells us, “He[Jesus] committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” It didn’t make sense until I looked at the Greek word for “make perfect”. This is kind of cool. It is the same word that was the last word spoken by Jesus on the cross. There the word is translated, “It is finished”. And then I understood the poetry of this verse. Jesus was not made perfect by his suffering and death on the cross, rather, through Jesus’ suffering our salvation was accomplished.
In verses 14-17 we see how He did it. In verses 14-16 we read about Jesus sharing our humanity, “14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.” They say you can’t choose your family, but that is not always true. Jesus chose His family. He chose to make humanity His family. Arguably He had a better option. He could have chosen the angels. He could have chosen to make the angels His family, but instead He chose us. Jesus chose to be a member of our family. Then, in verse 17, we learn the reason why He made this choice. There we read Jesus chose to be part of our family “in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God” Jesus became part of our family so that there might be one among us who was faithful in service to God. Here Jesus’ service is compared to that of a merciful and faithful high priest. As a merciful and faithful high priest Jesus was compassionate, kind, and considerate to His brothers and sisters, even the ones most people were going out of their way to avoid. Finally, as a faithful member of our family Jesus was able to “make atonement for the sins of the people.” On the cross, Jesus offered His faithful service in exchange for our shameful sin. And in so doing Jesus makes shameful sinners like you and me holy, that is we are able to stand before God without stain or blemish. We are able to stand before God because all of our shameful sins have been forgiven.
I know you know this, but I think it is important for us to be regularly reminded the reason why Jesus is not ashamed of us. It is not because we are better than our brothers and sisters. We have done things that are shameful, just as shameful as anyone else; Jesus has just as much reason to be ashamed of us as anyone. The reason Jesus is not ashamed of us is a result of His willingness to become part of our family, offer faithful service in our place, and make atonement for our sins. The reason Jesus is not ashamed of us is because, in His grace and in His mercy, Jesus took away our shameful sin and made us holy.
Having become one of us, having offered faithful service in our place, and having made atonement for our sins, not only is Jesus not ashamed of us but also, He is willing to call us family. In verse 11 we read, “11 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.” Jesus looks at you and sees those who will inherit salvation, He sees the princes and princesses of the heavenly kingdom, He sees sons and daughters of the almighty Father, He looks at you at sees a brother or you and sees a sister. He looks at you and sees His family. This is how Jesus sees you and this is how Jesus wants other people to see you. Jesus wants you to be seen as a child of the heavenly Father and as a sibling of the savior …and He wants you to see your fellow believers the same way. Regardless of the embarrassment they have caused or the shame they have brought, those who believe in Jesus as their savior, those who have turned to Him in repentance and trusted in Him for forgiveness, those people are family, they are our brothers and sisters and they deserve to be treated as such. Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, so why should we?
Next week we have invited the entire Messiah family to be in worship. Some of them have been here in a long time. Some of them may be staying away because they are ashamed of themselves, others might have been hurt by or are upset at one of us, some might be mad at God. Regardless of what has kept them away they are our brothers and sisters, they are our family and they are welcome here, this is their home and I trust you will welcome them back into our family with the same grace and mercy as Jesus has welcomed you into His. Jesus is not ashamed to call anyone who believes in Him family and neither are we. Amen? Amen.