Restoration

Shame exists when we know we are settling for less than we are made for. Before the disobedience of Adam and Eve, Genesis states that they were naked and unashamed. That must have felt great! However, through their disobedience they empty themselves of their true identities, and settle for less than they were made for. In short, for the first time, they felt shame, and tried to hide from God.

Shame is a horrible feeling. It makes us want to be alone. But even in Genesis 3 there are signs of redemption, as God searches out the people who have betrayed him. He simply asks them 'Where are you?' God doesn't want to leave his people in that place of shame, he wants to find them and heal them. And therefore God takes them back to the source of their pain and shame by asking: 'Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?' Restoration involves undoing what has been done: it involves going back in order to move forward with freedom.

I recently reread the story of Peter's betrayal of Jesus. Jesus had believed in Peter from the very beginning, and demonstrated his trust in Peter time and time again. However, Peter gets one opportunity to demonstrate his belief in Jesus as the Messiah, and instead of sticking up for Jesus, he disowns Jesus, claiming to not know him. In Luke 22 Peter is asked if he was one of Jesus’ disciples right in front of Jesus. Listen to his response:

Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Just as Peter disowns Jesus, it says that Jesus looked him straight in the eye. Ouch! What do you think Peter saw in Jesus’ eyes? Surely it was the face of a hurting man who has just been rejected by his best friend. I don’t think Peter would have slept one wink during the next 3 days. That one look would have been seared on his mind's eye. Peter wept bitterly, because he was an absolutely broken man.

But this broken shell of a man experiences two forms of restoration. The next thing we read about Peter was that he was back with the disciples. He had just betrayed Jesus, as well as the rest of the disciples, and anyone would think that the disciples would want absolutely nothing to do with him. Yet he’s embraced back in. They stick by him at his lowest point.

And then comes the climactic moment when he sees Jesus again – when he looks Jesus straight in the eye again. Will he see that same face of disappointment? Jesus simply asks him the question 'Do you love me?' But he asks him three times, which isn’t a mistake. Each question and each answer was an opportunity to heal the wound that each statement of betrayal had caused. Jesus takes Peter back to his lowest point: his place of shame.

This point is made clear in the gospel narrative. The scene in which Peter first betrays Jesus is set out in John 18:

It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

However, Peter's moment of restoration (John 21) also takes place by a fire. In fact, the Greek word used here is only found in all of the New Testament in these two texts. The point is obvious: Jesus takes Peter back to that place of failure, and in doing so restores him. Peter can now freely say, 'You know I love you.'

The result is that by the time you get to the books of Acts, Peter isn’t a man with skeletons in the closet: a man driven by the need to redeem himself. He is now a man that has experienced grace beyond grace, ready to fight and eventually die for the cause of God’s kingdom.

We all settle for less than we are made for. We all experience shame. But God's grace is that he searches us out, and in entering our place of shame, he brings healing and restoration. That's what the incarnation and the cross are all about. Christ takes on our identity so that we might take on his. He enters our shame that we might enter his glory. However, we have a part to play in such an incredible process. We have to be willing to be found. We have to welcome Christ into our place of shame: we have to respond to his simple question: 'Where are you?'