2. Honour and shame

3. Honour How others perceive you Reputation and identity To be esteemed A ‘good name’ Upheld in society Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves. (Rom 12: 10) Faiscal Rafiq/IRIN

4. Shame Reproach, disgrace, exposure Removing honour Public humiliation, insult Unworthiness “I am against you,” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.” (Nahum 3: 5) The Royal Constantine Society

5. Why shame and honour? Understanding the concepts of shame and honour will help us understand the Bible better. Understanding the worldview of friends and neighbours from other cultural backgrounds will enable us to better live out and communicate the gospel.

6. Honour and shame cultures Community and family honour over individual morality Social status – where you sit, how you walk, who enters a room first ‘Honour killings’ for shameful behaviour Matthew Thistle CrazyFest

7. Honour and shame in the Bible: The prodigal son A young man dishonours his father Admitting both his guilt and shame he returns to his father In compassion, the father bestows honour upon him by clothing him, putting a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet, and celebrating his return God both forgives and honours us when we might expect to be left guilty and in shame. Lk 15: 11-32

8. Honour and shame in the Bible: The vineyard A father tells both his sons to work in the vineyard The first says “I will not” (shaming his father) but later goes. The second says “I will go” (honouring his father) but never turns up. Jesus says that the first son did his father’s will Matt 21: 28-32 God bestows honour when people turn to him. God rejects those who inwardly shame him by not doing his will.

9. Honour and shame in the Bible: Mary and Joseph Joseph discovers his fiancée is pregnant. He does not want to “put her to shame”, and resolves to separate quietly. An angel had told Mary that she had been chosen to give birth to God’s son. Matt 1: 19, Lk 1: 30-35 God often chooses the weak, unnoticed and disgraced to be recognised and upheld (1 Cor 1: 27). If God honours us, it matters not whether the world does.

10. Honour and shame in the Bible: The cross Jesus is publicly accused, spat upon, hit on the head, mocked He carries his cross through the streets before being stripped naked and executed between two criminals God bore our shame, as well as our sins. Jesus “endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12: 2).

11. Beyond honour and shame We are fully known and fully loved, despite our faults and failings and irrespective of how badly others have treated us.

12. Beyond honour and shame As Christians we should... honour others, treating them with more respect than they deserve find ways of confronting sin which leads to repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration