Rejoicing for the Shame

As I read the Bible to the kids one evening this week, I had to hand the Bible over to my husband to finish reading it for me. A sentence struck me so hard, that I began I cry. I couldn’t finish reading aloud. I began to laugh because my family looked at me like I was nuts, but I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t continue. The story we were reading was from Acts. Some apostles had been preaching about Jesus and the religious leaders wanted to shut them up. After much debate and the convincing by one of the leaders, they decided to beat them and sternly command them to never speak of Jesus again.

The word used for their beating was flogged. I wondered what this entailed, so I did a little research. To flog someone for discipline in those days was a tortuous experience. There were leather straps that had iron balls and pieces of bones tied to them. With all their might, men would beat the offender’s back over and over again. The iron balls would wail into the person’s muscle and bone. The leather straps and bone fragments would rip open the accused’s skin and even slice into their muscle.

Acts 5:40

So, convinced by him, they took his advice; and summoning the apostles, they flogged them and sternly forbade them to speak in or about the name of Jesus, and allowed them to go.

I can’t imagine the pain and embarrassment these men went through. The agony that was bestowed upon them simply for speaking about something they were passionate about. They were wronged and tortured for merely following Jesus’s commands. The following scripture is what touched my heart beyond words.

Acts 5:41

The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace and shame for the name of Jesus.

They rejoiced? After being stripped of their dignity and beaten for doing no wrong – they rejoiced? They praised God for the honor to get to suffer shame for Jesus’s name? How many times have I been afraid to speak up on behalf of Jesus simply because someone might think ill of me? How many times have I not mentioned my faith in Jesus so that I could be better accepted by the group I was presently in? How many times have things not gone my way even after I did everything right, and I became angry with God for not being there for me? These men had their skin ripped apart as others amusingly watched and they were never so arrogant as to look at God with disdain. They humbly thanked Him and praised Him for getting to suffer for Him.

Maybe it’s because they saw the torture that their Saviour and Leader had just gone through for them. Maybe it’s because they saw first-hand the humiliation and the anguish that Jesus suffered through because of His great love for them. Maybe they personally understood all that Jesus laid down, to sacrifice His own life in ultimate pain and humiliation for them. Maybe that’s why they didn’t complain. They didn’t get angry and question Him. They didn’t throw up their hands in defeat. Instead, they threw up their hands in praise that in some small way they could share in the sufferings of Jesus and so share in the glory of His name.

Acts 5:42

Yet [in spite of the threats] they never ceased for a single day, both in the temple area and at home, to teach and to proclaim the good news of Jesus as the Christ (the Messiah).

Father God, I am so sorry when I have been embarrassed to speak up for Your Name. These apostles faced torturous beatings and still never once ceased to proclaim Jesus. I have never been faced with that and I have been weak in speaking up for You. I’m sorry when I have questioned Your goodness and faithfulness toward me simply because things didn’t go my way. I can do everything right and still have bad things happen, but You are still good! You are still worthy of my praise! If I suffer embarrassment or shame for speaking up for You, may I count it as an honor to be worthy to suffer for Your Name.

#suffering