Feature Article: Unashamed

UNASHAMED

Rob felt utterly mortified as he and his teenage daughter took her friend back home to her parents. She had gone away with his family on holiday. But Rob had an embarrassing confession.

Before he managed to utter a word to her parents, both girls burst out in unison, “We went to a nudist colony!” Two pairs of disbelieving eyes fixed themselves upon Rob. He covered his reddening face and attempted to explain.

“We were looking for a park,” he began, and then proceeded to explain how they ended up on a road with an increasing number of bare-bottomed pedestrians.

The giggling girls interjected, “We kept telling you it was the wrong way!”

Rob clapped his hands over his eyes, “The worst thing was I couldn’t find a place to turn around. We just had to keep going until I found somewhere.” Clearly worried about their reaction, he repeatedly apologised for exposing the couple’s daughter to rather more of an education than they had intended!

It may seem like a strange idea to many of us, but ultimately the folks in those colonies are trying to regain something that humanity has lost: to be naked and unashamed. But to be unashamed is so much more than just frolicking about in the buff. It’s about dealing with one of the worst of all human experiences: shame.

Adam and Eve were the first to experience it, the moment they disobeyed God:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

GENESIS 3:7–8

There is a nakedness that we all fear: being exposed for who we really are. Whether it’s a dark secret, old wounds, hidden sin, insecurities or any of a thousand other things, we hide ourselves. We have a need for a covering.

Adam and Eve tried to cover up with fig leaves; but they still found themselves hiding. Those leaves clearly didn’t do the job. The shame was still there. But God didn’t leave them in that state: “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (V. 21).

God knew about their shame and He made them an appropriate covering. But it came at a cost. Providing Adam and Eve with “garments of skin” required the skin’s original owner to die. Death was the price for shame to be covered

God knows all about the things which bring us shame too. And at Easter, He provided us a most costly and precious covering.

In Gethsemane, Jesus was betrayed not just to an angry mob, but to a group of religious leaders among whom were the chief priests; those who were specifically chosen to stand between God and His people in the temple. These priests were robed in the finest white linen, which God designed to represent His purity and goodness. They not only felt securely covered; their robes made them feel superior. They believed they could judge the very Son of God.

After wrongly condemning Jesus, they sent Him to Pilate to be sentenced to death, shouting out, “Crucify! Crucify!” (JOHN 19:6).

Crucifixion was designed to be utterly degrading. Jesus was stripped and nailed to the cross in front of the jeering crowds. Family, friends and others He had known for many years were watching. His mother was there with her sister. Imagine His shame as He looked

around. The chief priests—in their gorgeous, God-given attire— continued to mock and shout abuse at the naked Son of God.

He hung there condemned, not for His own sins—He had none— but for ours.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

ISAIAH 53:4–5

Jesus not only carried all the guilt for our sins, He endured the shame and exposure we dread. Those old fears need no longer hold us in their power because now, in Christ, we have the ultimate covering: “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with

Christ” (GALATIANS 3:26–27).

God knows our shame, our darkest moments, our most hidden secrets. Yet we are not left exposed and ashamed. He has clothed us— through our faith—in the garment of Christ. We are not naked and ashamed; we are covered and loved in the safe shelter of our Saviour.

Easter is not just the celebration of the greatest miracle in history; it is more personal than that. It is the key to true freedom. Because Jesus carried our burdens, we don’t need to. When the weight of guilt and shame presses down upon us, we have a choice; carry it ourselves, or lay it down at the cross.

This Easter, let’s celebrate freedom from sin and shame. And as we continue our journey to the heart of Easter, may God lead us into a liberty we never knew was possible; that we might stand before Him without any fear.