Jesus changes everything. Everything. And shame is at the very center of what he changes. He keeps shame in view from his birth to his death. He loved the shamed and outcast, he identified with them, he became them. Watch his life and you see the King absorbing the shame of the world. Watch his crucifixion and you see the death of shame. But the fruit of all this is a little different than we might expect. Instead of being the ones who receive honor and liberation from shame, we are lead in a path, like his, that leads down and then up. The difference is that, while we walk that path, we can look down on shame and no longer be controlled by it. We receive great honor with Jesus, of that there is no doubt. But, from the world’s perspective, we have only taken a step or two lower because we are associated with a dead Hebrew who we think is alive and reigning.