I made a tragic mistake the other day…I read the comment section at the end of an online article. I generally avoid reading the unintelligible drivel that is so pervasive on the internet, but for some reason I was drawn to it. I can’t remember what the article was about, but I was struck by the mind-numbing statements that flowed so freely from people’s fingertips. In reality, I was dumber for having read them. One of the dominant themes that kept presenting itself was the idea of ‘shaming.’ Every time someone was critical of something, that person was accused of ‘shaming.’ It appeared as if any dissenting opinion resulted in an accusation of ‘shaming’ by numerous people. It was then that I realized that I was a victim of this horrendous crime as a child because my mom often said, “Shame on you.” I will obviously be seeking counseling for this at some point in the future.
After I logged off, I began to ponder the nature of shame. Why is it presented as something so negative today? It seems to me that Jesus often used the concept of shame to draw people to himself. Jesus meets the woman at the well, and after talking to her about worship, he addresses her darkest secrets, no doubt eliciting shame within her. I think we see shame as the reason why the bleeding woman in Luke 8 tries to touch Jesus secretly, and yet Jesus does not let this anonymous act slide. He addresses her publically and then heals her not only of her persistent bleeding, but also of her hovering shame. I imagine the shame Moses feels when the Israelites ask him why he is not going to lead them into the Promised Land, or the sheepish response that David must have experienced when Nathan revealed that he knew about his illicit activities with Bathsheba.
Shame is a terrible feeling and one that will be absent in heaven, but I contend that there is a grace in it. Granted, we should not seek out opportunities to shame people for non-sinful things, but it appears to me that shame is one of the ways in which God convicts of sin. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God they felt the shame of being naked and sought to hide. God drew them out of the bushes and forced them to deal with the reality of what they had done. Shame is the natural response to sin...and it should be. When we seek to remove all elements of shame in our culture we are following the natural consequence of removing the concept of sin altogether. Some things should result in a response of shame, and I contend that you are in a dangerous place if you feel no shame for your sin. To be immune to shame is a sign that your “conscience has been seared” (1 Timothy 4:2).
Shame causes us to want to hide like Adam and Eve. Shame tells us that something is wrong. Shame helps act like a moral compass. Shame is not the end, however. Christ has not only borne our sin, he has also borne our shame. The solution to removing shame in our lives is not therapy or self-esteem patronization. It is by facing the reality of sin, pulling it out into the open, repenting of it, and laying it at the cross. The woman at the well didn’t hang her head for long, but went back into town as an outcast and proclaimed what Jesus had done. David, likewise, had to face a nation as a king who had failed his people and his God, and yet God restored him. There are only two ways to remove shame. The first is to harden our hearts to sin, and the second is to open our hearts to the grace God gives to shame-filled sinners. May we choose the latter.
Pastor Nate
