¹² … saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.” ¹³ And again, “I will put My trust in Him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.”

Not ashamed, we just heard in the previous verse. Jesus Christ is not ashamed of us, to embrace us as family. He does not hold Himself aloof, as though He were from an upper cast, or higher on the social class system. Yes, He stooped, but He was not condescending as though to patronize us. Let all dignitaries step aside, here come the brothers of Jesus.

I think of Joseph in Egypt, when he brought his brothers in to a banquet. While his contemporaries in Egypt looked down on the Hebrew shepherds, Joseph held them in high regard. They were his brothers and he never held their sin against them. So too, Christ, despite our betrayals and denials, never holds our sin against us. He is proud to call us His brothers.

This is not a new concept, but was prophesied long before Christ even arrived on the scene. Our passage today quotes from Psalm 22, the first verse of which Jesus quoted on the cross, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” It was Hebrew custom to refer to a whole passage or psalm by quoting just the first verse. On that basis then, Psalm 22 applies to Jesus, by virtue of His quoting verse 1. Here in our passage, the writer specifically applies Psalm 22:22 to Christ. The lament portion of the psalm turns to rejoicing, an allusion to the resurrection, “You have rescued me from the horns of wild oxen” (Psalm 22:21 ESV). God, His God, saved Him out of death.

The joy of His salvation from death (not from His own sin, because Jesus never sinned, but from the death caused by our sin, see Hebrews 2:9-10)—this joy He wanted to share. So like any family member would do, He wants to tell His family about God’s greatness. The point here is that we see the Son of God (Hebrews 1:2), who is Jesus (2:9), the one who is greater than all the angels (chapter 1) coming to His brothers to praise God. We who are in the same spiritual family as Jesus, the Son, share in the praise of God, because we are Jesus’ brothers!

Further parts of Isaiah 8:17-18 are brought into focus for the same reason: ^“And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will even look eagerly for Him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.” We are fellow children with the Son of God!