Good Friday: What do we do with our shame?

Recently, we all saw a Hollywood superstar physically attack a host for what he perceived as shaming his wife. Shame might be the worst feeling in the world. People will hurt themselves or even die to prevent being shamed. Although we might not even be aware of it, we will react passionately when we think someone is shaming us.

The opposite of shame is glory. We crave glory in the form of compliments, awards, anything that draws favorable attention to ourselves. Think of an athlete trains his who life for a single moment of momentous glory. Glory is hard to come by, which is why there are all kinds of platforms for people to create fake glory.

Sin should be shameful. In fact, shame is a gift that keeps us from sinning. What we might do if no one knew about, we avoid in order not to be shamed. In degenerate society, we are no longer shamed by sin, and we even celebrate it. For some of the things we celebrate, the apostle Paul says it’s a shame to even speak about it.

But all of us have a legitimate reason to feel utter shame. Since Adam and Eve experienced shame, we are all guilty and stuck in our shame. Even with all the glory we can muster, we can’t hide from that real shame.

We speak of Christ making the payment for our sin (which he did), but he also took our shame for us. What happened to our Lord was extremely shameful. Imagine the President of the United States traveling to a foreign country where he is ridiculed on the internet. Americans would be insulted. Then imagine that they beat him and even killed him. The United States wouldn’t take this kind of shame kindly, and there would be a price to pay.

The President is nothing compared to the Lord of Glory, the God of the Universe. He allowed himself to become a man and then allowed man to beat him, mock him, and crucify him. Crucifixion is an incredibly shameful mode of execution.

Christ takes our shame. When his death made restitution between us and God, our shame was put away. We no longer have to stand before God or man with any shame. It is all covered. Any other kind of attempt to take care of shame is a fake coverup.

In light of this, Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” Since it is the gospel that takes away our shame, we have no need to be ashamed of men laughing at us. In fact, that shame becomes our glory. Just as Christ is glorified for taking our shame, we get glory for being shamed for Christ’s sake.

Therefore, it is only because of Christ and in Christ that we have glory, and we are not ashamed.