It Starts Small

² keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

The Romans, during the first century, had perfected the art of execution through crucifixion. They had experimented with their victims for decades in figuring out what would deal the worst sort of physical punishment over the longest time. They wanted to deal the worst kind of physical torture and unimaginable pain.

When Jesus was put on trial, he was constantly scorned when they interrogated Him, and then came the crucifixion.

²⁷ Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole company^[b] around him. ²⁸ They stripped him and dressed him in a scarlet robe. ²⁹ They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt down before him and mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” ³⁰ Then they spat on him, took the staff, and kept hitting him on the head. ³¹ After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Crucified Between Two Criminals

³² As they were going out, they found a Cyrenian man named Simon. They forced him to carry his cross. ³³ When they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull), ³⁴ they gave him wine mixed with gall to drink. But when he tasted it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵ After crucifying him, they divided his clothes by casting lots. ³⁶ Then they sat down and were guarding him there. ³⁷ Above his head they put up the charge against him in writing: This Is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

³⁸ Then two criminals were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹ Those who passed by were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him and said, ⁴² “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God; let God rescue him now—if he takes pleasure in him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴ In the same way even the criminals who were crucified with him taunted him. Matthew 27:27-44

The ultimate goal was to ridicule, disdain, belittle, and humiliate Jesus.

Examples of Jesus being scorned:

²⁹ They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt down before him and mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” (v29)

 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” (v40)

“He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. (v42)

SO now we look back to the verse in Hebrews. What does “scorning its shame” mean?

Slow down and chew on those words for a moment: Jesus scorned the shame of the cross, while on the cross!

Jesus was unmoved by shame.

Jesus humiliated shame.

Jesus disarmed shame.

Jesus forced shame into hiding.

Jesus silenced shame.

Shame is one of evil’s greatest weapons uses to hold you back from being all you can be through Christ. The devil knows that if you were to truly understand who you are in Christ, then you would know the truth: Satan and his demons have no power over you. In fact, it is the opposite. All power and authority is given to us through Christ to rule over evil.

When you decide to let go of your past and shame, shame is no longer that tormenting passenger consuming your life. That freedom you are longing for, comes from letting go of your shame and truly embracing who God says you are.

Jesus understands shame. They tried to shame Him at the cross. He was God in the flesh. At any point He could have stopped the entire thing. God our Father could have sent a heavenly Host to wipe out all who were there. But neither of them did. Jesus bore that cross, that shame, for us. There was no other way for us to be redeemed to our Heavenly Father.

Take shame on a long walk back to the grave and toss it down in there where it belongs.

Shame Part 1: Where are you?
Shame Part 2: The Naked Truth
SHame Part 3: Enough Already
Shame Part 4: Jars of Clay
Shame Part 5: Weight Watchers
Shame Part 6: Death to Selfie
Shame Part 7: Empowered by Empathy
Shame Part 8: Scorning Shame