There’s something most of us fear more than death. Something we avoid at all costs. Something that makes our very souls shake: Shame.
PICTURE: K Mitch Hodge/Unsplash
Shame induces trauma in us. Those dark places we don’t want anyone to know about. Failure, divorce, abuse, addiction.
How can we show our face again? How can we recover from shame, or be set free from its fear?
At the heart of the human story there is One whose life ended in the deepest of shame. Scorned, mocked, their life an abject failure – yet somehow, by embracing shame their life turned to glory – when they were lifted up – raised from the dead.
Jesus embraced shame and humiliation on the cross, to show us that not even shame is the last word for us. In Christ, there is forgiveness and re-creation.
If Jesus’ shame can be redemptive, so can ours.
Paul Clark’s musings can be heard on radio across Australia and at atthetop.org.au.
