Shame, Beauty and the Gospel

Last updated on: October 1, 2015 at 8:08 am by Anne Kennedy

Shame, Beauty and the Gospel 2015-10-01T08:08:19-04:00 Anne Kennedy

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’m embroiled once more in that portion of Exodus–the fashioning of the Ark and the Tent and the Clothes. The yards of purple and gold and fine twined linen, the pomegranates, the bells, the heavy weight of jewels. Every time I pass through this section of the scripture I realize how little I know God. So much of my, and I think other people’s, conception of God is packaged up neatly by What Is Practical, by What Works. Surely God must be like a well run hipster nonprofit. You pop in, see everything neatly and efficiently arranged, make your request, get a friendly reply and your need fulfilled with a complementary fair trade coffee thrown in, and then you pop back out, free to go on your way. God waves a cheerful good bye and is happy you came to him for something.

Whereas that isn’t how God is at all. The out working of your life, and the lives of all his people, is of detailed interest to him. What the priest wears and how the tent is arranged isn’t haphazard, it isn’t just anyhow, and it can’t be said to be purely practical. Maybe it works, if that’s what a body is looking for–you can come with your lamb and have its blood poured out and have your sins forgiven, until you sin again–but it isn’t about what works, it’s about the weight of God’s glory and personality, it’s about his perfection and beauty being spattered upon by man’s incredible personal ugliness.

Yesterday I wanted to finish my thought, but the word count was too big and the day was moving along. I boldly announced (because the scriptures do) that it is shameful for a woman to correct a man in public. Several things happened, then, as the day unfolded. Some people, here and there, were troubled and appalled by such an idea. The idea is so foreign, so unusual, they couldn’t even understand the words on the page. Two, that very troubled planned parenthood lady was questioned in hearings and there was apparently a Twitter firestorm of women angry that a man dared to question her at all. And three, at the end of the day, another lady took offense that Doug Wilson notices the relative attractiveness of ladies, how dare he. These three plain, not finely twined, threads may seem to be unrelated but I think they spin away from the same primordial sin–the curse of the fall, that her desire shall be for her husband but he shall rule over her.

The confusion of beauty, of order, of speech, of gender all comes from men wanting the women to stop yammering and the women trying to get the men to do something useful. She is trying to get him to do what she wants, and he wants to be left quiet for a few minutes. It’s an ugly picture–the first ugly strokes making themselves comfortable even before the original sin. Adam was supposed to tell Eve about the fruit, about not eating it. It was the only command. She wasn’t there when God gave it. It was Adam’s job to relay the message, clearly and completely. Why then the adding of ‘do not touch’ to the command not to eat? God didn’t say that. Maybe Eve added it herself, or they came up with it together. But when you come down to it, it was Adam’s fault that the addition was made. He was responsible for the command, and so when Eve garbled it, it was his problem. And if he himself added to it to protect her, it was still his problem.

So, now, the serpent comes to Eve to tempt her, and the plain word of God has already been undermined, and it is Adam’s fault that it was undermined because the word was his responsibility. The serpent successfully tempts Eve and gets her to eat the fruit so that she is pledged, she has given herself freely to sin, to Satan. And all the time, Adam was with her, and he took the fruit and ate it too. Eve sinned, but Adam bears the responsibility for her sin, because the word of God was his responsibility.

Fast forward to Numbers 30 and you have more added to the picture. A woman makes a vow. If the man, her husband or father, hears of it and doesn’t say anything, like Adam, just standing there, with her, but not stopping it, the vow stands and she is pledged to do what she said she would do. But if he does say something, if he takes her vow onto himself, he can cancel the vow so that she is no longer responsible for what she said. Hmmmm, is there anywhere else in the bible where a man takes onto himself the vow of another?

Aaron, of course, does. Jewels representing the sons of Jacob are sewn heavily into his garment so that he will carry them on his heart and bring them before God into the Holy of Holies. Aaron himself is a picture of our Great High Priest, Jesus, who takes our commitments to sin, our vows and pledges of evil, onto himself and does away with them by his own blood. He doesn’t just stand there while we give ourselves to evil, he takes responsibility for us, for our language, our actions.

The shame of a woman correcting a man publicly can be discovered in the lie that it tells of Jesus and the church. The reason you recoil in horror, even if you don’t mean to, from a woman belittling a man in public is because of the ugliness it does to the picture of Christ’s sacrificial appropriation of the sinful vows of the Church. Jesus doesn’t just stand there and do nothing, as Adam did. He doesn’t give an incomplete or garbled account of God’s word and then do nothing as we fall into sin. He takes responsibility for us, takes us onto himself. And because he doesn’t just stand there, helpless, we don’t correct him, we don’t tell him he’s wrong. The helpless man, the rebuking woman, they both tell a terrible lie about the gospel.

And once again, I’ve gone on way too long and will have to tie this all back up together tomorrow. Unwittingly, it must be that I have made for myself a series. Tomorrow I will link all the parts together. Also, I am having a terrible time inserting links. I’m going to post this and then when I can get onto an actual computer I will put in links to the planned parenthood hearing and the Doug Wilson hit. Have a lovely day and check back tomorrow for whatever it is I am trying to say next.

Work and the Christian

Previous Post

September 30, 2015

What a Shame: Silence, Women, the Church

Next Post

October 2, 2015 No Shame: Beauty for the Modern Woman

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Children in Conversation culture watch Daily Devotions Demotivations with Anne faith alone for the grandparents GAFCON In conversation with children In the News Kitchen Notes Lambeth Learning Notes Life Going On Men are Human Notes from Home Pictures Reading the Bible Saturday Links Sermons Signs of the Apocalypse The Bad Word Association The Prayer of Jonah Travel Notes Uncategorized Witless Wednesdays Work and the Christian

Select a Month June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Judas Paul Peter John

Books by This Author Books by Anne Kennedy

See All Titles »