The Shame of the Cross

Saturday, April 27, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”

Hebrews 12:2–3

During World War II, the ten Boom family in Holland sheltered more than 800 Jews in their home before they were betrayed to the Gestapo. Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie were sent to the dreaded Ravensbruck concentration camp. More than 130,000 women were sent there during the war, and more than 90,000 of them died there. In her book The Hiding Place Corrie wrote about the horror of being forced to stand naked before the guards for what they called a medical examination each week.

“One of these mornings while we were waiting, shivering in the corridor, yet another page in the Bible leapt into life for me. He hung naked on the cross. The paintings, the carved crucifixes showed at least a scrap of cloth. But this, I suddenly knew, was the respect and reverence of the artist. But oh—at the time itself…—there had been no reverence. No more than I saw in the faces around us now.”

As she thought on this, Corrie then said to her sister in front of her, “Betsie, they took His clothes too.” She continued, “Ahead of me I heard a little gasp. ‘Oh, Corrie. And I never thanked Him.’” 

The love of Jesus is so great that He was willing to endure the most shameful treatment that men could devise. He had already laid aside His glory to come to be our Saviour, and on the cross He laid aside His dignity in a glorious sacrifice for our salvation. There was no price Jesus was not willing to pay for us and we must never forget it.

Today's Growth Principle: 

When was the last time you stopped to thank God for the cost He paid for your salvation?