Excerpt - Surviving Your Season of Shame by C. M. Blount

"Surviving Your Season of Shame" will be published soon! Look for it online. In the meantime, enjoy this excerpt:

Let Him be Crucified!

The prime example of purposeful shame is the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you imagine the scene in Jerusalem? If you’re having trouble, just indulge me for a moment:

The cry rang out from among the people, the same people Jesus healed, fed, and taught. Pilate was trying to release Him! Jesus knew this, yet He did or said nothing which would aid Pilate’s attempts. Pilate was under strain. His wife had told him not to bother with this man of righteousness. She said her dreams had been troubled because of Him!

Jesus just stood there, giving the most minimal, but powerful, answers to Pilate’s questions. Pilate knew he had to act – the people were thirsty for blood. But did it have to be this man’s blood? In a last-ditch effort to save the Galilean, Pilate addressed the people. Surely they would want to see the murderer Barabbas crucified rather than this man!

But alas, the people had another plan. The Bible tells us that when given the option of which prisoner should be released, they cried out for Barabbas. And when asked about Jesus, they shouted, “Let Him be crucified!” Pilate was stunned – he washed his hands of the whole affair after delivering a stern warning. Pilate told the Jews he would not be called into account for the blood of this man.

The Jews, however, responded with a statement that has puzzled me for some time. They said, “Let His blood be on us and on our children!” Why would they curse their children with the consequences of their actions? I still do not really understand, but I submit it is something to think about: are the seasons of shame our children experience brought about because of our actions? Maybe.

But that’s not the point. The point is Jesus knew he would be crucified. He explained to his disciples that he would be lifted up the same way Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that multitudes would be healed. Jesus knew that he had to die. It was the reason that he came into the world.

But such a death! He was humiliated – stripped, mocked, spit upon, beaten, and then crucified. He was publicly destroyed (from a human standpoint), but He understood that it was all for the purpose of reconciling man to God.

Does that mean that it was easy? No! It is not easy to bear the cross. It is not easy to fulfill God’s purposes. And knowing that it is God’s will does not necessarily allow you to breeze through the process. Jesus prayed! He truly prayed asking God to let this particular cup pass from Him if there was any other way God’s purpose could be accomplished.

But after He let God know how He felt about what He was going to have to go through, Jesus uttered a sentence that has become another part of my daily prayer, “Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done.” That is a hard prayer to pray, but if you can get to that stage, you can walk through your season of shame without batting an eye. As long as you know that what you are going through is to accomplish the will of God, you will be able to handle it.

The writer of Hebrews explains it this way, speaking of our Lord, “who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame….” What was the joy set before him? Simply, God’s will being done and man being reconciled to God.

Ask any church founder or pioneer, I’m sure they would tell you they had to learn to endure so that they could perform the task God laid on their hearts. Many of them were ridiculed, harassed, and abandoned by friends and family. But the conviction that they were moving in the direction of God’s purpose carried them through. He has not changed, He will do the same thing for you.

Have you given any thought to what people might learn about God by watching you walk through your season of shame? I know I didn’t – not at first. The revelation of that truth did not come to me until years later. And guess who it came from? My first husband. He told me years after our divorce that I had been a good wife and that I taught him how to hold his peace instead of arguing and fighting. It had never occurred to me during our trials that he was watching my reaction and learning from me. It turns out that what we went through made us both stronger and better. And it led me to the place where I am today, walking into my purpose with no fear of the past.

From Jesus’ example, we discover the high price that God was willing to pay for our redemption. Christ’s picture of sacrificial love should elevate our spirits and reveal to us just how much we are treasured by our creator. As one of my former pastors used to say, God took what He could not replace and traded it for what He could replace. He could have wiped us out, been done with us, divorced us if you will.

But through Hosea, Mary, Jesus, me, and you, people can learn that the love of God is richer, fuller, and deeper than any human love. Now that’s purpose!