| Cross Words: What’s In A Name? |
Richard Prow ~ rpcrosswords@gmail.com
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Being related to someone famous would definitely have it’s perks. Reservations at your favorite restaurant would no longer be necessary. Seats on the 50 yard line would be a mere phone call away. Friends would actually show up when you asked them to help you move. Yes, life could surely be easier if you had a famous name to throw around. And if I had one, I’d probably use it.
Untold riches. The best seats in the synagogue. The finest fattened calves. Temples built in their honor. They all could have been for the asking for the family of arguably the most famous individual ever. The relatives of Christ could have stamped their own ticket. Named their price.
And yet in the book that bears his name, Jude, the half brother of Jesus, never once mentions his linked heredity to his famous kin. He does reference His name, some 8 times, but not once in regards to their biological relationship. As a matter of fact, Jude only speaks of his position with Christ as being that of a servant (Jude 1).
So what’s up? Why didn’t Jude throw his weight around, or his brother’s for that matter? Why miss out on all that fame could do for a middle of the road Israelite? At least one “Maybe you’ve never heard of me” would be called for, right?
Jude never seemed to be enamored with his physical relationship to Christ, because frankly it didn’t matter in the least. Their spiritual kinship trumped the familial. Jude saw himself as a believer in Christ above being the brother of Christ.
Apparently Jude never cared about cashing in on His brother’s fame and adoration either. His self-titled book shuns the kind of false teachings about Christ that allow shysters to flourish. Those false teachers were “shepherds who feed only themselves” (v. 12).
Jude had no use for vast treasures and flattering accolades. Having a famous sibling was nothing but a footnote to his life. He sought nothing except to tell others not about his brother but rather his Savior.
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