Not Ashamed
David Francis
After my near-death experience from a burst appendix, age 11, I had to convalesce and take things very easy. When I began to attend my new secondary school for the first time, PE (Physical Education) was on the timetable.
When PE finished that meant getting undressed in front of others and, as a late comer to the group because of my illness, this prospect filled me with dread. I felt vulnerable and embarrassed due to the two operation scars and this new experience was fulfilling my worst nightmares.
Nakedness can make us feel incredibly exposed, often feeling shame. And not just physically - when our flaws and failures find us out, it can be incredibly humiliating and extremely discouraging.
This was the case in the beginning of course when Adam and Eve realised that God knew what they had done, regardless of their ‘figgy fashion’ coverings! (Genesis 3:7-11). Prior to this they had enjoyed complete transparency, intimacy and innocence, being naked and not ashamed (Genesis 2:25).
Fast forward to Jesus, who chose to live among us, to lay aside his majesty, on a journey that resulted in Him completely naked when hanging heavily from outstretched arms, pinned by coarse iron nails, struggling to breath upon the cross.
Most representations of the cross depict Him clad with a loincloth, but the Roman manner stripped a man naked, designed for maximum ignominy and humiliation.
His all-night interrogation and sadistic scourging had left Him completely exhausted, intensely aching, cut, bleeding, bruised and marred more than any man (Isaiah 52:14).
But we read that He endured it all for us, determinedly submitting to His Fathers will, effectively covering our transgressions forever by this ultimate act of self-exposure, humility and sacrifice.
He was not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:11), scorning the shame of the cross for the joy set before Him, the fulfilment of God's plan for the redemption of humanity (Hebrews 12:2).
He made us one with the Father as full members of His family so that, as far as He is concerned, our shame will never separate us from Him again.
He endured nakedness to give us the coverings and privileges of familial acceptance by God so that, no matter how distant, exposed or embarrassed we feel when we miss the mark, God knows us, is with us and in deep love, covers our nakedness and is not ashamed of us.
