No one who believes in him will be put to shame

No one who believes in him will be put to shame.

What makes you ashamed?   Past sin?   Maybe you don’t like the way you look in a mirror.   Or you compare your finances to someone else who is better off than you.   Typically, shame comes about because we think we have failed to live up to expectations—often a set of impossible expectations.

Let’s apply this to St. Andrew, whose feast we celebrate last week.   He was the first to follow Jesus.   Without him, his brother, Peter, might not have met the Lord at all.   He was also friends with and possibly a coworker with John and James.   Yet despite how close the four men were, Jesus chose only three of them—Peter, John, and James—to be his closest disciples.   For whatever reason, he did not include Andrew.

How do you think Andrew reacted to this exclusion?   Maybe he felt he wasn’t good enough to become part of Jesus’ inner circle.   Maybe he felt awkward around the other disciples every time Jesus invited the other three but not Andrew to join him.   Maybe there were times when he questioned whether he should even be an apostle.

Or maybe nothing like that happened at all.   At least there is no indication that Andrew felt ashamed or embarrassed because he was left out.   And if he did feel any shame, he didn’t let it get the better of him.   In fact, he became one of the boldest and farthest traveled of the apostles.   After Pentecost, he evangelized the nomadic peoples around the Black Sea.   He also founded the church in Constantinople, which became the head of Eastern Christianity.   Finally, at his martyrdom, Andrew asked to be crucified, not on a cross like Jesus and not upside down like Peter, but on an X-shaped cross.

The envy and rivalry, the guilt and self-condemnation, that rise from shame had no place in Andrew’s heart.   His experience of Jesus’ love and his devotion to Jesus’ call pushed aside self-centeredness and made him a humble servant instead.

Shame can be overwhelming.   But how much more overwhelming is Jesus’ unconditional, merciful love!   That love tells us that we belong.   It tells us that Jesus treasures us.   It heals us and removes all shame.   And it’s available to you.

Word Among Us