A path through Scripture
From Shame to Grace
Shame → hiding → Jesus and sinners → the cross → grace
Shame makes us hide, from God, from others, from ourselves. The Bible traces the whole way from the first hiding in a garden to a grace that finds us exactly where we are ashamed to be found.
Walk the path
The first hiding
Genesis 3:8“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”
The moment shame enters the world, the man and woman hide from God among the trees. Shame's oldest instinct is to cover and to run.
Faces not ashamed
Psalm 34:5“They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.”
They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. What we cannot fix by hiding, His light can lift.
The woman who wept at His feet
Luke 7:37“And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,”
The town's known sinner comes uninvited to weep at Jesus' feet, and He receives her love and says her many sins are forgiven.
Where are your accusers?
John 8:10“When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?”
To the woman the crowd would stone, Jesus says, neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. The courtroom empties.
No condemnation
Romans 8:1“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. The accusing voice, even your own, does not get the last word.
Where the path arrives: Jesus
Shame began with hiding, and grace is God coming to find the hidden. Jesus was known as a friend of sinners, not because sin did not matter to Him, but because He came precisely for the ones too ashamed to come to Him. At the cross He takes the shame that was ours, and offers in exchange a welcome we did not earn. Grace is not being told your sin was small. It is being fully known, at your worst, and not turned away. You can stop hiding.