²[Fix] our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The more we learn about the price Jesus paid for our salvation, the better we understand and appreciate His love for us. This knowledge leads us into deeper worship and helps us to respond to what the apostle Paul prayed for:

… that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:17–19)

Jesus, we read, despised the shame of the cross. Few of us, if any, would readily embrace the experience of shame; even Jesus despised the thought of it. On the one hand, the term “shame” in Greek carries a surface meaning related to lack of modesty. Jesus was about to be crucified utterly naked on the cross. However, the shame associated with His death was deeper than that. Crucifixion was designed by depraved human minds to be a public spectacle in every way imaginable. The Romans paraded Jesus through the crowded streets and executed Him in a very public place, on the side of a well-travelled, major roadway. Today, at the base of the hill where Jesus was crucified, a bus station carries on business as usual.

The Romans customarily used crucifixion for criminals who rebelled against Roman authority. They would force the victim into submission in his final energy of life by the humiliation of carrying the instrument of his own execution, the cross, to the place of death. Yes, the cross represented shame, and Jesus despised it.

Then there was the mocking while He hung there. The word “shame” expands to include dishonor. The prophet Isaiah put it this way:

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Isa. 53:3)

Further, He despised the shame that sin brings. We have a phrase, “being caught with your hand in the cookie jar,” to convey the feeling of shame when our sin is patently obvious. There is no hiding it. Jesus, too, felt the shame of guilt, but not over His sin, for He did not sin. He felt the shame of the entirety of humanity. He took it all on Himself, in our place, in our stead.

Why did He do it? The answer is that He saw through the cross to eternity and the end game. The cross was not the end of the story; He would be victorious and once again be seated at His Father’s right hand. This fact enabled Him to despise the shame of the experience of the cross, and His joy was greater than the price He paid.

Interestingly, some translations render the word “despise” as “scorn.” Both capture the idea. Jesus did not passively accept the cross and all it represented. He scorned it; He despised it. Its shame would not deter Him, so great was the joy that motivated Him.

Lord, I am overjoyed that the shame of my sin did not deter You. You are an amazing Savior to willingly and joyfully embrace the cross for my sake. I worship You!