A rose by any other name ...

Since I am now living alone - which has many benefits - I have converted one of my rooms into a sort of hobby room/study. So, live from my new found study I am writing this blog, and hopefully many more.

Yesterday I decided to delve into the book of Jude. I will admit it is one of those books of the bible that I have bunched in with the minor prophets, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy as books that I don't really read. For me Jude has generally been the book of the bible that I reach and I realize that I page flipped a little too far when searching for some New Testament book.

As part of my study I decided to read it along side of Matthew Henry's Commentary. So, with my bible on one side and my commentary on the other I started into it, and I got two verses, two verses that I would bet most of us have glossed over when looking at Jude.

This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.
I am writing to all who are called to live in the love of God the Father and the care of Jesus Christ.
May you receive more and more of God's mercy, peace, and love.

This is not the most impressive piece biblical literature by any strech of the imagination, but the commentator made an interesting point about this. Supposedly Jude can also be translated as Judas - like the guy who betrayed Jesus. The commentator went on to talk about how Jude could have just changed his name when writing this, or done something to hide who he was; but instead he came out and associated himself with someone who was not very popular at the time.

This really challenged me. I sat there and wondered about how often I try to hide an aspect of me in order to give my arguments more clout. I guess that this has really brought to my light how what Shakespeare wrote was so very true " ... a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." I hope that in the coming days, weeks, months and years ahead I remain true to the who I am, and that I may not be ashamed for what I have done, but live in the truth and peace of God.