Jesus died for our sind and SHAME

Christianity is a religion irreducibly and uniquely fixated on the death of its Saviour. Every Sunday, in every corner of the globe, Christians partake of the Lord’s Supper and in so doing proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again (1 Cor. 11:26). We often think of Christ’s death as an atonement for sin, but it is also worth reflecting here that Christ suffered on the cross not just for our sin but for our shame.

We tend to focus on the physical pain of crucifixion, and it was horrendous. It was an unbelievably cruel way to kill someone. It was a gruesome ordeal where naked criminals died in excruciating pain. Even many of the Romans spoke out against crucifixion as a hideous and barbaric instrument.

But the Gospels don’t focus on any of that. Yes, Jesus suffered physical torment. But so did two other men on that hill, and so did hundreds of criminals who were crucified by Rome. In fact, what’s physically remarkable about Jesus’s death on the cross is that he died so quickly (Mark 15:44). The Gospels do not direct our gaze to the pain of the cross; they draw attention to the shame of the cross.

The abandonment of Jesus was comprehensive. Judas betrayed him. His three friends fell asleep in his hour of deepest need. A young man ran away naked into the woods in the darkness of the night rather than have anything to do with Jesus. Peter denied him, the council schemed against him, and false witnesses spoke lies about him. 

The crowd cried out for Christ’s death, and Pilate was too cowardly to stop them. He was laughed at by soldiers, mocked by the chief priests and scribes, derided by those passing by, and reviled by those who were crucified with him. 

Was there ever a man so utterly abandoned by friends, cheated by his enemies, and ridiculed by those who should have bowed to worship him? “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isa. 53:3).

The Bible also tells us that Christ died and was buried. This may seem like an unnecessary tautology, but the burial should be seen as another aspect of his humiliation. The burial was not only a confirmation of Christ’s death; it was an indication that Christ had received what men in their sins deserve. Like a man under the curse, he had returned to the dust (Gen. 3:19). The grave (sheol in the Old Testament) was the place of death, the place of corruption, the place where bodies go to decay (Ps. 16:10; cf. Acts 2:27, 31; 13:34–35). This was no resting place for the immortal King of glory.

Jesus’s life was marked by suffering from start to finish. À Brakel says the first step in his suffering was before his baptism, the second step was from his baptism to Gethsemane, the third step was from Gethsemane to the cross, and the fourth step was his burial. “He, who before this had been mocked and despised of men, was now removed from their view as one unfit to be viewed by them.”

Kevin DeYoung