Mark 8:38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.
Do you remember being a child and being embarrassed by your parents? It’s something that most kids experience and then grow out of, but in some cases it can alter the relationship detrimentally. We learn through life that our parents aren’t as weird as we might have thought or that what we considered old fashioned was just being responsible or that it was our limited understanding not their actions that caused the gap in appreciation. The above verse is spoken by Jesus. He has just told the crowd that they must take up their cross, as he would, if they wanted to be his followers. He said they must lose their lives to him if they wanted to find it. Now he warns them that this could become a deal breaker; that if they were embarrassed and ashamed by a leader that would conquer through rejection and death then they would remain estranged when it finally became evident that his rejection and death had, indeed, conquered. At some point we make our choice. This week, what are you choosing regarding Jesus and his cross?