Let’s read Matthew
3:16-17(NIV) & Matthew 27:27-31(MSG)
As
soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven
was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting
on him. And a voice from
heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
“Then
the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole
company of soldiers around him. They
stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then
twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in
his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of
the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and
struck him on the head again and again. After they had
mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they
led him away to crucify him”
Jesus never tried to
please men. He always strove to fulfil His heavenly father’s will and ONLY to
please Him. In fact He said “My food is to do the will
of Him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). Seeking to do His
father’s will was His source of energy. Jesus was least bothered about how men treated
Him. But, He was very careful not to displease His heavenly father.
In the above scripture (Matthew 3:16-17) we see that Jesus had just
been baptized. This baptism was indicative of His willingness to be rightly
separated from His earthly responsibilities and to be totally committed to His
heavenly calling. Here we see the heavenly father’s expression of His love and
pleasure towards His only begotten son Jesus Christ. Jesus treasured this divine
EMBRACEMENT and considered it to be the most valuable of all.
In the second scripture
portion (Matthew 27:27-31) we see the
complete opposite of an EMBRACEMENT. Those were moments of great EMBARRASSMENT.
This was just one of the many instances when Jesus was put to shame by the
people around Him.
How could Jesus survive
this unimaginable embarrassment and shame? What protected Him from such hatred
and mockery? – Nothing but the father’s EMBRACEMENT…!!
No matter how GOOD and
RIGHT you and I try to be, our righteous deeds can never go past the standard
of filthy rags (read Isaiah 64:6). If
the only Sin-less man (Jesus Christ) ever to walk on this planet “treasured” God’s EMBRACEMENT all of His earthly
life, what is our attitude towards it??
The EMBRACEMENT of God may
not guarantee the absence of the world’s EMBARRASSMENT, but it definitely
guarantees empowerment to endure and victory at the end…!!
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