Shame on Jesus

Have you ever felt ashamed? Of course you have. Maybe, despite your best attempts to stifle the memory, your most embarrassing moments stalk you like a long shadow. I still cringe when I think about even my most innocent embarrassments. Get behind me, middle school!

What is shame? Webster says it’s a painful emotion, a condition of disgrace, something to be regretted. Perhaps I’ll illustrate all three of those if I ever share about district band competition in seventh grade. Let’s just say the high note came out, just not from the horn.

Shame is an ancient concept, arising in the garden of Eden. Where there was once plenty of food, knowledge, joy, and companionship, there instantly became a drought of each. Adam went from naked and unashamed to, “I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Shame soon became more than just a personal problem. Ancient empires were built upon shaming enemies and glorifying their own tribes. Pagan kings would erect the corpses of their enemies in full display, humiliating and providing grave warnings to the remaining defeated. God even commanded the Israelites to tame down this shameful practice in Deuteronomy 21:22-23a:

“If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.”

Ancient Rome’s greatness arose in part by perfecting the art of shaming their enemies. They discovered the ultimate form of capital punishment—the cross. “No death was more excruciating, more contemptible, than crucifixion,” writes Tom Holland in Dominion, “To be hung naked, ‘long in agony, swelling with ugly weals on shoulders and chest’. Helpless to beat away the clamorous birds: such a fate, Roman intellectuals agreed, was the worst imaginable.”

Not only was Roman punishment cruel, but it served to gratify a ravenous audience. It may perplex us that crowds would flock to watch a crucifixion, but moderns don’t see the world like ancient Romans. We think of individuals as having inherent dignity and worth. To the ancients, one person represented a whole group. The man being crucified was a symbol, not a precious child of God.

To illustrate, imagine you were from a small town, say, Nazareth. You wouldn’t be striving to climb a corporate ladder and make a name for yourself. Instead, you would find your sense of worth in being a Nazarene among Nazarenes. If any Nazarene ever became a powerful ruler, then that would bring your town real honor. But, of course, that’s a silly example, because everyone knew nothing good ever came out of Nazareth.

More likely, if one of your fellow Nazarenes was arrested for trying to subvert Rome’s dominion, you, your friends and your family would be gravely ashamed. Maybe a relatable example would be if the starting quarterback of your favorite football team was arrested for domestic abuse. That would bring shame upon the whole program, to the point you’d probably not wear the team’s apparel in public for a year or two.

Today’s culture, especially due to social media, is starting to resemble ancient Rome. We are becoming more accustomed to watching people being shamed, because it’s not really about the individual. For example, there’s this guy, Tate, some kind of cultural influencer. He instructs men how to become rich and powerful, and he was arrested for rape and human trafficking. We are willing spectators to this man’s public humiliation, and we never really think about him as an image bearer of God. To onlookers, he either represents the downfall of family values or a justified cultural rebelliousness. We don’t really care about his intrinsic worth and personal well-being.

This realization, that the world craves public humiliation, hit me hard when my friend told me of Instagram chatter about our mutual friend who recently experienced a very public humiliation. To casual onlookers, our disgraced friend represents the downfall of family values. “What a shame! She should be…, They should …,” etc. But this is my friend, whom I love. I pray for her and hurt when she hurts. She’s not a symbol of shame to be mocked and ridiculed.

But do you know who was?

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Gal 3:13

How incredible that Jesus bore all the shame of all our sins and embarrassment! Our biggest regrets, our worst moments, our most shameful habits—all of them nailed to the cross. He was a spectacle, mocked and scorned so that he could scorn the shame of the cross (Heb 12:2).

We all have a most embarrassing moment. Some moments evoke terrible guilt and shame. For all of this, Jesus died and freed us from those things. Hallelujah, what a Savior!