Jesus The Shame Bearer
As we approach the Passion Week, it might help to think about Jesus’ crucifixion in a threefold way:
1. Cross-Bearing: The physical pain of Jesus’ death
2. Sin-Bearing: The spiritual anguish of Jesus’ death
3. Shame-Bearing: The public humiliation of Jesus’ death
We do a pretty good job in our churches of emphasizing (1) the physical suffering of crucifixion and (2) the spiritual anguish Jesus experienced bearing God’s wrath for our sins at Calvary. And so we should. Because most of us do not live in the honor culture like the New Testament world, however, we tend to miss (3) the shame-bearing that public crucifixion entailed. Perhaps a story will help.
My vocational pilgrimage has been delightfully schizophrenic. I still can’t decide whether I want to be a seminary professor or a pastor when I grow up. I have oscillated between the two jobs now from nearly two decades.
After some fifteen years of church ministry and a bit of adjunct teaching, I made the transition to academia in an official capacity in the Fall of 1994. I took a part-time but permanent position with the New Testament faculty at Talbot School of Theology. The plan was to bring me up to full-time when I finished my doctoral program a couple years later.
The two years came and went, and I was itching to get back into full-time church ministry. I told my dean at Talbot to give the job to someone else, and I jumped on board as a team pastor at Oceanside Christian Fellowship, in February, 1996. I will never forget the reaction of one particular group of students at the seminary.
For a variety of reasons, related to the expansion of Christianity in the Pacific Rim and to our own history as a school of theology, Talbot has had the privilege over the years of training large numbers of pastors for the church in Korea. These young men and women and their families make tremendous sacrifices to come to the States, learn a new language and culture, and get a top-rate theological education to take back to their homeland. They are some of our hardest working students. They have to be.
One day in early 1996 I announced to my classes that this was my last semester as a professor at Talbot. I was going back into full-time church ministry [Little did I know that I’d be back in the classroom full-time in 2001, but that’s a story for another time.]
The reaction of my Korean students took me completely by surprise. They suddenly began to act quite uncomfortable around me. As I probed a bit, it became clear that these international students felt deeply sorry for me. They were somehow ashamed for me, as well.
Traditional Asian culture, you see, is wedded to honor and shame in much the same way as people in Jesus’ world were. Instead of military victory and public office holding, however, today’s Koreans regard educational achievements and vocational status as the key criteria for honor in the public sphere.
Additionally, and also characteristic of an honor culture, my Korean students view Christian education and ministry in markedly hierarchical terms. At the top of the pecking order is the seminary professor, with his august educational degrees and pedagogical authority. A local church pastor, although still a big fish in a small pond, doesn’t even come close.
The Korean brothers who heard my announcement in class that day couldn’t imagine that a seminary professor would willingly trade a position at the top of the spiritual pecking order for the lesser job of a pastor. They could only assume that someone else made that decision for me, against my will.
So these dear Korean students, sympathetically sharing in the shame they assumed I was experiencing, did not know quite how to respond to their now former, demoted professor.
The point of the above story should be quite obvious: in an honor culture, whether Korean or Roman, to willingly step down the ladder of public esteem is simply unthinkable. A Roman senator named Pliny put it like this, ‘It is more uglifying to lose, than never to get, praise’ (Ep. 8.24.9).
Willingly stepping down the ladder of public esteem, however, is precisely what Jesus did for you and for me in his incarnation and subsequent death on the cross: ‘He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross’ (Phil 2:8). The early Christians were highly sensitive to the utter shame that crucifixion entailed in their social world—thus Paul’s emphatic phrase ‘even death on a cross.’
One of our earliest recorded Easter sermons describes the great paradox of a humiliated God like this:
He who hung the earth [in its place] is fixed there, he who made all things fast is made fast upon the tree, the Master has been insulted, God has been murdered, the King of Israel has been slain by an Israelitish hand. O strange murder, strange crime! The Master has been treated in unseemly fashion, his body naked, and not even deemed worthy of a covering, that [his nakedness] might not be seen. Therefore the lights [of heaven] turned away, and the day darkened, that it might hide him who was stripped upon the cross. (Melito or Sardis, Homily on the Passion, 96)
Another ancient Christian preacher similarly reflected,
Where can anything be found more paradoxical than this? This death was the most shameful of all, the most accursed. . . .This was no ordinary death. (John Chrysostom, Homily on Philippians, 8.2.5–11)
No comments in either of these sermon excerpts about Jesus’ physical suffering. No comments about the atonement. For these early Christian preachers, it was the horror of God the Son’s public humiliation that they wanted to impress upon their congregations.
Jesus, we are told by the author of Hebrews, ‘endured the cross, scorning its shame’ (Heb 12:2).
Much to think about here as we approach Good Friday and Easter.
Comments
Jacob Andrews Apr. 19, 2011 at 1:16 PM
This is certainly something to think about. My Middle Eastern friends have helped me understand this idea. It seems like we Westerners are the outliers when it comes to honor and shame! Thank you for pointing out that this is reflected in early Patristic teaching; that was very illuminating.
What is the Greek behind "even death on a cross"? What is the word corresponding to "even"?
MAE HARRELL Apr. 20, 2011 at 3:58 PM
Thank you for your ministry, yes he did endure shame along with so much more....thank you Jesus! In my opinion, when one has the true knowledge of what the Lord God is saying in the Bible, they are obligated to teach it so that his word gets preached correctly. So many false teachings in this world....God Bless You
Sue Anne Hoyt Apr. 20, 2011 at 4:16 PM
The great commission tells us to go into all the world and make disciples. If we take this seriously we must give up much in the way of positions of "honor". The model Jesus showed involved investing Himself in the lives of 12 men day and night as well as a public ministry that was unpopular with many. Teach us your ways Lord, because ours are frequently so off course.
Peggy Apr. 20, 2011 at 5:22 PM
Yes he did suffer physical mental and all for us thank you jesus
JOSE F. ALAMO Apr. 20, 2011 at 5:50 PM
I praise the Lord for your ministry..and believe our world (and The Body of Christ ) are both needing more gifted people like you in this area of teaching The Word of God.. Excellent story to illustrate your point..There is no doubt in my mind that , as christians we desperately need to share a lot more our different cultures..I belong to the Latino culture and often times I have thanked the Lord for the good things we have as Latin people (as compared to other things I´ve noticed and judged as ¨bad¨ things in other cultures my wife and I have come across thru business people,entrepreneurs, social leaders,etc)..Since we are so mentally saturated with our own cultures,teachings and traditions, it becomes harder for us to see and go beyond what´s in front of us , as a different culture expression.( At this point I´m generalizing,not talking about Latins..)The subject about HONOR and how people value honor ( money,family relationships,marriage,education,etc) is so different in Asian and Eastern countries that we have learned so much more than we have been able to realize through these past years..Since God i so intelligent He wants us to be different ,even though we are united thru Christ..Please keep in touch..GBY
Ginny Apr. 20, 2011 at 6:10 PM
Thankyou for this website. There is something of value on facebook, when you can read and have Our God explained. It is so hard for us to understand why God would need a sacrifice of atonement. But to read that homily:"He who hung the earth [in its place] is fixed there, he who made all things fast is made fast upon the tree, the Master has been insulted, God has been murdered, the King of Israel has been slain by an Israelitish hand. O strange murder, strange crime! The Master has been treated in unseemly fashion, his body naked, and not even deemed worthy of a covering, that [his nakedness] might not be seen. Therefore the lights [of heaven] turned away, and the day darkened, that it might hide him who was stripped upon the cross. (Melito or Sardis, Homily on the Passion, 96) "
is so worthy of reflection. God is so holy, he cannot look at our sin. I have reflected on that and can truthfully say that I am sure that Jesus is the Lord of my Life. I love God so much that he loves me even when I was a sinner, and I want to be forgiven of my sin. By Jesus's act of Redemption I am worthy of his love...no evil can harm me or mine. I love that the world may acknowledge and give praise to the God of all Creation! God Bless us one and all.
Subdeacon Henry Shirley Apr. 20, 2011 at 6:32 PM
Thanks for quoting early, post-biblical sources! The paradox of it all is that Christ's public humiliation, especially in the Gospel of St John, is also seen as His moment of glory and exaltation; in one sense, the Passion and Resurection are seen as one seamless rescue of the Cosmos.
Alan J. Eddy Apr. 20, 2011 at 8:11 PM
In the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6 Jesus' desciples walk away and leave Him. For the first time Jesus doesn't call them back. If Jesus was talking metaphorically why didn't He call then back to explain to them? In fact Jesus then asked His own apostles if they were going to leave Him too? Did Jesus ever say this is a symbol of my body and blood? If Jesus can change water into wine why could He not change wine into His blood?
Jacob Andrews Apr. 21, 2011 at 1:22 PM
"In the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6 Jesus' desciples walk away and leave Him. For the first time Jesus doesn't call them back"
Where else did He call them back? I'm not sure I know what you're referring to.
"Did Jesus ever say this is a symbol of my body and blood? If Jesus can change water into wine why could He not change wine into His blood?"
Amen.
FLOSSCEE BIGBEE Apr. 21, 2011 at 2:39 PM
YES AND YES AND AMEN I AM SO THANKFUL FOR JESUS DYING FOR ME IN ORDER FOR ME TO HAVE SALVATION I DONT EVEN DESERVE,I MAN LIKE ME BUT PERFECT IN LIFE DYING FOR ME BURIED FOR ME AND RISING FOR ME TO SIT AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER SO WE CAN B FORGIVING FOR OUR UNGODLY DOINGS.............PRAISE GOD FOR GOD
margaret Apr. 21, 2011 at 4:36 PM
Thank you.
Kim Van Marter Apr. 21, 2011 at 8:58 PM
The devil doesn’t care how much good you do, as long as you don’t do it today.
Dan Grant Apr. 22, 2011 at 8:59 AM
It is long been a problem on how to discuss the last hours of Christ with young people. Now out on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Iuniverse. The Spiritual Journey of the Stations of the Cross. Perfect for both young and old, this guide to the 14 stations includes both Traditional and Scriptural Stations and is interactive to bring people into the last hours of Christ's earthly life. www.ourlifejourneys.com
Rev P.J.Ank Mar. 22, 2012 at 3:33 AM
These three points are superub.
emilfuspesize Jul. 17, 2012 at 10:47 PM
sex