Luke 9:26

Luke 9:26, in plain English

If you are ashamed of Jesus and His words now, He will be ashamed of you when He returns in His glory with the Father and the holy angels.

Why it's here

This is a sobering statement about loyalty. How you relate to Jesus in this life determines how He relates to you at the end. Standing with Him now, even when it is hard, matters eternally.

Who's speaking

Jesus delivers a solemn warning about the consequences of denial.

Where it sits in the story

Jesus drew a direct line between now and eternity: if you are too embarrassed to stand with Him in this life, He will not stand with you when He comes back in the full blaze of heaven's glory.

The scholarly reading

Whoever epaischynthē ('is ashamed of') Jesus and His logous ('words') will face reciprocal shame when the Son of Man comes en tē doxē autou kai tou patros kai tōn hagiōn angelōn ('in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels'). The triple glory formula emphasizes the eschatological majesty of Christ's return.

Language and setting

The warning connects present behavior with eschatological consequences. The Son of Man's coming 'in glory' draws on Daniel 7:13-14 imagery. Being ashamed of Jesus in a hostile world carries ultimate consequences at the final judgment.

Voice

Jesus speaks a solemn warning about the consequences of being ashamed of Him.

Significance

Jesus warned that anyone who is ashamed of Him and His teachings now will face the Son of Man's shame at His glorious return, when He comes with the combined glory of the Father and the holy angels.

24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

25What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose or forfeit his very self?

26If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

27But I tell you truly, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

28About eight days after Jesus had said these things, He took with Him Peter, John, and James, and went up on a mountain to pray.

Read all of Luke 9 — Peter confesses, the Transfiguration blazes, and Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem. Everything from here moves toward the cross.