We love to celebrate Christ’s glory. We sing praises to Him because He’s shown He deserves it. Our hope becomes even more bold as we see Him work mightily in our lives. Our faith is strong when He is glorious, but what happens to our faith when He is shamed?
That lonely road
There’s no doubt that Christ had many followers during His brief time on Earth. Not just those who were hanging around for food and miracles, but people who truly believed He was the Messiah. They joyfully told others about Christ making them see or removing their leprosy. To these people, Christ must have been glorious and their faith reflected it.
Likewise, we see how bold the early church was after Christ’s resurrection. Thousands were brought to conviction about their sin and need for a savior. The church spread not because of good marketing, but because of the incredible faith and joy of Christ’s followers.
However, something occurs between those two points in history. It was just a handful of days, but it stood in stark contrast to the glory and majesty that we assign to Christ. Our beautiful savior was beaten, mocked, killed, and left to rot for 3 days. The creator and sustainer of the universe was shamed by the very people He created and loved.
Imagine standing there as you saw this beaten, bloody man carrying a cross that He would soon die on. Imagine being the person who, just yesterday, was telling everyone about how Christ cured your paralysis. You swore this was the savior the world was waiting for, and you were ready to dedicate your life to Him.
Imagine the comments thrown at those people whose lives were radically changed by the power of Christ.
“This is the guy who made you walk again? Maybe He should use His power to stop falling in the dirt!”
“Aren’t you glad He fixed your sight just so you could see Him get killed like a criminal?”
“For someone who fixed your bleeding condition, He sure is bleeding a lot Himself.”
Imagine how much their faith was tested in those moments. Could this really be the same man they met weeks ago? Was this broken body really the promised Messiah? Was everyone else right, and they were just fools for believing Jesus was anything more than a mere human?
Shame? Bring it on.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The shame that Christ endured wasn’t a surprise to Him. He spent His life knowing full well what awaited Him at Jerusalem. Not just death, but the mockery and beatings He would suffer at the hands of those who hated Him. In Hebrews, we’re told that He didn’t just accept that shame, but He despised it when compared to the glory of saving those who are completely unworthy of it. But what does it mean that He despised the shame, and how can we think like our Savior?
Christ was looking at two aspects to His final purpose on Earth. On one hand, He would have to face great shame and suffering at the hands of those very people whose heartbeats were a gift from God. They used the blessing of oxygen to speak blasphemies against God Himself. Christ, who had the power to end everything, would have to willingly subject Himself to the scorn and brutality of wicked people.
On the other hand, Christ knew the joy that awaited Him as a result of this shame. He would save the people He loved, rescuing them from the wrath they rightfully deserved. He would allow us to live the lives we were always meant to live, loving and serving the almighty God of the universe as His children.
When looking at those two things, the greatness of rescuing those who were dead in their sins far outweighed the shame He would face. It’s not that offering salvation was worth it, but that it was so important to Him that He actually despised the shame. He hated it. He held zero regard for it, not letting that shame even register in His mind as He considered the end result of His death.
In other words, the truth of what Christ set out to do was all He could see. Bring on the mockery and abuse and death. Christ’s goal far outshone anything we, in our limited worth and power, could do to Him.
Behold our God
Like Christ, we have a goal before us. Like runners in a race, everything we do is moving us toward a singular purpose. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are continually moving toward holiness and sanctification. We want to become more like Christ, loving what He loves, and less like the world and those who are still under the judgment of God. The goal of our lives is to please Christ, and nothing short of that can satisfy us.
However, this life is filled with distractions. Although they are many, one such distraction is the shame that can come with pursuing our Savior. We may be mocked for our lives of self-denial, told we’re wasting our lives going to church or reading the Bible, and outright rejected because our beliefs go contrary to the popular culture. We may be taken to court, rejected by friends and family, jailed, or killed for our beliefs. The world hates us because we love Christ.
If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. (John 15:18)
Yet as those who are completely sold out to Christ, it’s not us they truly hate. If we are truly pursuing holiness, engaging the world through truth mixed with love and gentleness, then we represent the one they hate most in life. Our lives are points of light in a world that loves darkness. They hate us because they hate Christ.
There is much in the world that tries to bring shame to Christ and shake our faith. Whether it’s failing health, a fallen pastor, or the loss of a job, we will all be faced with things that try to point at our Savior and laugh. Like those who listened as others mocked Christ during His final moments, we may be tempted to wonder if it’s all worth it. Is Christ really who He says He is?
When faced with such shame and doubt, we have two choices. We can compromise our beliefs, finding ways to fit in and get along with the world while still being allowed to quietly live out our Christian lives. We can let the fear of living a few decades of hardship become more important than our eternal purpose of obtaining Christ.
I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies and of the son of man who is made like grass (Isaiah 51:12)
Or, like Christ, we can trust that our purpose is far more glorious than whatever abuse the world can concoct. We can despise that shame, seeing it as so insignificant that it doesn’t even touch us. The awe and majesty of our Savior can fill our vision so completely that we can see nothing else as we race toward Him.
