Luke 1:24-25 (ESV)
[24] After these days his wife
Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, [25]
“Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away
my reproach among people.”
Elizabeth was held in reproach by
the community because she was childless. The Mosaic Covenant promised
fruitfulness. It would have been assumed that because Elizabeth was childless,
she and Zechariah must therefore be sinners in some perverse and unseen way.
God, by giving her a child, removed her reproach among people. That is what the
Lord does for each person who puts their faith in him. Jesus, Messiah, came to
take away our reproach. Romans 15:3 connects Psalm 69 to Jesus, “For Christ did
not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who
reproached you fell on me.’” He takes away not only our reproach among people,
but our reproach in his sight as well. This is a message that the Jews did not
understand. To them Messiah was the conquering king who would release them from
subjugation to foreign powers. They did not understand that he came first to
release them from subjugation to sin.
Reproach in the eyes of people
can be valid or invalid. In Elizabeth’s case it was invalid. God called her
righteous and blameless in Luke 1:6. For believers, that kind of invalid reproach
will be removed either in this life, or when Jesus returns. But either way we
do not have to believe the reproach. Trust the truth of a contemporary Christian
song that says, “I am who you say I am.” We are who God says we are despite
what others say or what we feel.
Valid reproach, reproach that we
deserve because of our character and behavior, will be removed as we encounter Christ
and are molded into his image. I think of my friend who was a drug user and dealer,
but God got ahold of him, and he became a pastor who wore Bible verses embroidered
on his shirt because he wasn’t allowed to pass out tracts in the local mall. He
would walk through the mall and people would stop him to ask about his shirt. God
removed him his valid reproach and transformed his life. He went from being
chased by the police to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
There is also reproach in the eyes
of God. That reproach is removed through the cross. When we place our faith in
Jesus we are moved from enemy of God to friend of God. We are moved from being
unclean to being pure and holy. We are transformed from the inside out by the
power of his blood and his indwelling Holy Spirit.
God removed Elizabeth’s reproach.
Her son John would introduce to the world the one who would remove the reproach
of any who would believe him. Whatever is happening in your life, whether you
are reproached by people for valid or invalid reasons, or whether you sense God’s
displeasure and reproach because of your own sin and brokenness, God loves you.
You can trust him. He wants to transform your life into a life of freedom.
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