At about midnight, I was rubbing the center of my tightened chest. Sleep fled from my panick-stricken soul. Fears crowded into my short memory and choked my mind, leaving me gasping for breath. The plausibility of a dark welcome from my eager listeners beholding me in rapt attention left me paralysed for about a week. For the first time in my life, I was about to share my story of abuse to a large audience. Thinking it through once tightened my chest. Speaking about it to a confidante opened up a fountain of pain through the tiny channels of my eyes. What on earth would a public revelation of my story lead to? Scandal? Further shame to me and my family? What would be the final public verdict on my case? Would I just need to shut-in forever after coming out publicly? Is this for the greater good or a greater misery? There was still a week left before the event, but the moment to come seemed to press in on me in the now. Yet overcome more with my Saviour’s safe embrace and love than my insecurities, I opened up my scarred past. To my utter surprise, I was met with filial tears, mutual opening up of greater, deeper scars from the audience, and an exuberant joy from many that said, ”I am not alone in this!”
Talking about Abuse in a culture of shame
I was welcomed when I shared about my story of sexual and spritual abuse, but that is not the case with most in my culture. I come from India and in my culture, we walk the line of society to protect our sacred place in it. When we are commended by the collectively held cultural values, we are honoured and held up as examples to be followed. When we step out of line and question its collective conscience, we are publicly shamed and denigrated. Some in my culture are born with shame. It cannot be erased or wiped clean, culturally speaking. “Blemishes, these”, scorn the majority voice. “Blemishes they are if they are born into a certain caste, born with a certain skin colour, born with a disability, born when the stars misaligned, born a little too soon or a little too late.” Add to this the shame that comes from what happens to them through life: unmarried singles, childless women, unwanted orphans, children out of wedlock, widows, victims of rape and abuse, under-performers, misfits, non-conformists – the shame of the entire society is amassed on such weak women and children, and those who don’t toe the line. Sadly the church from time to time falls into this collective societal conscience which makes it harder for those who are undergoing abuse, violation, or oppression of any sort to openly bring up the matter. Often they become the butt of gossip and reviling. Aspersions are cast on their motives. Shame is incurred on their familial upbringing. Abused women and children are seen as used and wasted garments. Often the rhetoric goes, “Who will now take you to be his wife?” A well-known Christian counselor in my culture once did a marriage workshop in which he illustrated that one who had lost their innocence one way or another was like a piece of chewed gum -nobody wants to chew it again! Qualified or not, that example was sufficient to classify those who have experienced some form of sexual violation as a piece of garbage. It takes courage and new eyes to tell a person’s story of perceived shame in a more redemptive light.
Three kinds of Shame & Abuse
Before I move into showing the better way of seeing, some clarifications are in order. Shame is a complicated issue with multiple layers. There is a kind of shame that comes from sin (sinful shame), a kind that comes from breaking societal norms (societal shame), and another that comes from outraging one’s modesty (bodily shame). These three are not the same and care needs to be taken to recognise what kind of shame one is experiencing and address it sensitively. Sinful shame comes from a breaking God’s moral law in the heart and is accompanied by guilt. Societal shame comes from breaking an accepted moral code in a society which may or may not agree with God’s moral law. Often this kind has an imputed guilt from society. Bodily shame comes from breaking a moral boundary of a person’s chastity or body, and the subsequent guilt is likely owing to the effect of the Fall. In the Garden we see an illustration of shame somewhat in all three shades. When Adam and Eve sinned their eyes were opened and they felt shame for the very first time. They hid from God in shame for breaking His law, they must’ve likely hid from each other socially in shame, and they hid their nakedness with fig leaves out of bodily shame.
The absolutely tormenting thing about sexual abuse and related violations is that they strike a chord on all three kinds of shame. Often the guilty party impugns the motives of the victim and makes them partaker of their own sin, while simultaneously holding them guilty for public moral failure. The victim is made to suffer alone, all the while reeling under the shame of a breached and broken body. There is another forgotten layer of abuse piled up on this: secondary abuse that comes from loved and trusted friends and elders in the church. Well-meaning Christians may see victims of abuse as equal offenders as the guilty, adding the weight of guilt from sin and making the resultant shame unbearable. For this reason, most abuse victims are afraid to talk about their story of pain.
How do we help victims of abuse deal with their shame?
While this article is by no means exhaustive, here are three simple ways to acknowledge and begin dealing with the pain of shame that abused men, women, and children have to deal with:-
- Sinful Shame –Confess it in Christ. While this is a rarity, there can be some level of shame that emanates from guilt in having allowed or extended an association with an abuser fully aware of his tendencies. The error here is not from the abuse itself but from ignorance or folly in continuing or perpetuating a sinful relationship. Confessing this folly and error in judgement can relieve some of the agonising shame that comes from a sinfully extended relationship. However, therein stops the responsibilty of the victim. The victim is not in any way to be held responsible for the conniving, scheming sexual advances of the abuser. This is the sole guilt of the abuser. Several counsellors have erred on this point by making victims share the unilateral guilt and sin of the abuser. Victims of abuse have a sensitive conscience and they would need the assurance that Jesus cleanses them from all unrighteousness if they confess whatever sin they understand to have exacerbated the situation (1 John 1:9) However care ought to be taken never to bring this up until the second and third kinds of shame are adequately dealt with.
- Bodily Shame: Clothe it with Christ. Abused persons often try to overcome their bodily shame by either covering it profusely or loosely or cowering from the public eye, or go the other extreme of parading themselves, seeing that they have been wasted. Either way, the Gospel of Christ provides a salve for this kind of shame. Christ does what He did in the garden to Adam and Eve: He clothes us with Himself and covers our shame (Genesis 3: 21). Knowing and living in this truth is probably the greatest comfort and security a victim can get. To know that Jesus the perfect Man approaches her with utmost gentleness and respect, sees her in the eye (not turning His face away in shame), and clothes her with the costliest garment of his own shed blood, provides relief and remedy for the agonies of sexual assault. Moreso, this same Christ is preparing for her a body, out of this same broken and mauled body –an imperishable, untainted, glorious tent which she can wear with utmost joy. What a great hope for this child suffering from the shame of sexual abuse!
- Cultural Shame: Embrace it for Christ. Unlike the earlier categories of shame, cultural shame cannot be confessed or covered but has to be embraced.. In this context, the abused is a sufferer, and if she is in Christ having been clothed in Him, she bears the reproach of Christ as a sufferer united to Jesus in His sufferings. Rarely does the church see Christians who have endured horrific abuse and violation as sufferers, but that is exactly how we ought to see them. They bear on their bodies the brand marks of Jesus. Like Moses of old, they bear the reproach (disgrace or shame) of Christ (Hebrews 11: 26) when they have especially been marked out for abuse because of their faith in Him, or because they trusted a church leader to shepherd and lead them who instead turned out to be a wolf. By acknowledging this, we are by no means condoning the actions of the abuser (whoever that may be), nor are we counselling them to endure abuse, but we are simply acknowledging the gravity of their pain as similar to that of Christ himself. Christ gives us a better way to see through this particular kind of shame.
Christ the Spectacle of Shame & Glory
Scriptures use a powerful word to encapsulate this very distressing reality for some Christians: spectacle. The word spectacle conjures up for the modern mind something akin to fireworks against a dark skyline. Commonly speaking, spectacles are ”what we wear to see clearly”. In fact, the Oxford dictionary defines a spectacle as a ”visually striking performance or display”. Etymologically, it is from this word that our modern day word ”spectacular” originates, which means “something marvelous to behold”. On the whole, we think of this word today as very positive and grandiose. The original use of this dictionary word is somewhat oxymoronish, if you ask me. The Greek word for the English equivalent is theatron or theatrizon which means ”to be made a show/laughing stock of”. It is from this word that we get the word theater which in the prime years of the early Roman empire was the arena in which Christians were publicly displayed for sporting entertainment against beasts and gladiators. As it unravels, we can see that they were made a ”spectacle“, a by-word and a curse for the watching Roman world. This is the real sense of the word employed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:9, when Paul talks about the apostles being made a ”spectacle to the world, angels, and men by God” —men who are the last of all like prisoners of war displayed at the end of a victory parade, sentenced to death. He was made a spectacle by God, not man. Strong words there, Paul! God put them on display as an object of shock-and-awe. The shame came from the world, but they were put there on display for God’s glory. “How so?”, you may ask. There is another account that gives a clearer glimpse of this same idea. In Luke 23:48, the author mentions that people had come to watch a ”spectacle”. One might think they may have come to watch a miraculous event, a show of power or some such. Yet the context reveals that they came to watch Jesus publicly shamed and displayed on the cross. He was that spectacle. People were appalled at what happened and beat their chests all the way home. Some mocked, some smirked, others wept quietly in the distance. Overall, none wanted a part with his shameful end. Jesus was that spectacle put on display by His own Father on a stake, the ultimate symbol of shame. Yet, at the same moment that people scoffed Jesus and held him in derision, when his story of shame was at its zenith, something else was put on display as well. God made a spectacle of his enemies, triumphing over them on the cross (Colossians 2:15). The very instrument that shamed His Son was used by Him to shame His enemies. In a moment, a spectacle became spectacular in God’s eyes. Perhaps it is this sentiment that Jesus echoes while quoting Psalm 118, that the stone rejected by men has been erected as the chief stone by God, which indeed is spectacular in the LORD’s eyes (Psalm 118:, Mark 12:10).
Being able to see a shameful story of abuse as marvellous in God’s grand redemptive narrative requires us to change perspective. As Christians, we must stop gazing at the grotesque underside of the tapestry and ask God to reveal His portrait on the upside. As counselors we must stop pinning the problem on the person and look for the solution in the portrait of Christ’s love for that person. In short, we must move from seeing the person as a spectacle, a flaw in the church, to spectacular, something wonderful, by seeing with God’s cross-shaped eyes.
We must move from seeing the person as a spectacle, a flaw in the church, to spectacular, something wonderful, by seeing with God’s cross-shaped eyes.
Wear His specs, dear friend. You will soon see the woman at his feet with a scandalous past is a pure virgin bethrothed to Him. You will soon seen that Mary’s perfume was not a wasted life but a life spent on loving Jesus. You will soon see that the woman serially raped and abused by men wasn’t ”asking for trouble” but was feeling her way to Christ her beloved.
During the first and second century, the world witnessed several brave men and women who went on to become martyrs for Christ. But their story didn’t begin with such fantastical glory. They were regarded as scum, a nuisance to be ridden from the society. Eusebius in his Historica Ecclesiastica (V.1) records the gruesome abuse that several faithful Christians endured under Marcus Aurelias, the then Roman emperor, “…being made all day long a spectacle to the world in place of the gladiatorial contest in its many forms”. Spectacle. That’s the word Euseubius used. At first they were societally ostracised from baths and marketplaces (Martyr of Lyons) but soon they were tortured and abused. One particular woman’s persecution and martyrdom stands out in the context of shame and glory. Vibia Perpetua was a young mother when she was executed in the arena in Carthage on 7 March 203 A.D. The story of her martyrdom became famous owing to her bold stance with men and beasts alike, despite being a frail young woman. Of particular interest in the story is how she handled her perceived shame in the arena. Perpetua and her sister in Christ Felicity ( who had a few days before her martyrdom given birth to a baby ) were exposed to a mad heifer which was prepared to attack and kill them.. But here’s what happened:
“… Perpetua was first thrown, and fell upon her loins. And when she had sat upright, her robe being rent at the side, she drew it over to cover her thigh, mindful rather of modesty than of pain. Next, looking for a pin, she likewise pinned up her dishevelled hair; for it was not meet that a martyr should suffer with hair dishevelled, lest she should seem to grieve in her glory.”
(W.H. Shewring, trans. The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, [London: 1931]).
She gloried in Christ in her final moments of shame. She caught heaven’s persepctive. While the mad bull eyed her as a piece of meat to be torn apart, while the crowds saw her as a spectacle to be scorned at, her Lord saw her glory in her rent clothes, her disheveled hair, her broken body, and minutes later embraced her into His loving presence. Perhaps if you and I were in the crowds, we would have turned our eyes away in shame. Jesus was met with that sort of eye gaze by his onlookers, as Isaiah records, “He was despised and rejected by men…and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isiah 53:3) Yet this Jesus who experienced shame, looks into the eyes of His abused children suffering as He did, and glorifies them right there.
Not all stand and applaud these little ones, not all understand. But there are a precious few who, hearing these stories, take their glasses off, wipe their tears and weeping see the spectacular radiance of Christ’s glory shine through their stories.
“I shall look at the world through tears. Perhaps I shall see things that dry-eyed I could not see”
Nicholas Wolterstorff