Bearing Our Reproach

“Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.” (Heb 13:13 AV)

The writer is referring to a sin offering required in the Old Testament wherein the animal is killed outside the camp.  He is making the correlation to what the sinner must do with Christ.  The writer is speaking to a Jewish community who would understand the need for separation.  They were to go out from that which influences towards sin to be rid of it.  Jesus will have it no other way.  We cannot confess if we do not first forsake.  The two go hand in hand.  Confessing without forsaking is merely making a statement of fact.  We are guilty.  What confession without forsaking fails to do is work towards reconciliation and restitution.  To be right with God, there must be a forsaking that accompanies confession.  This is where Jesus is.  He is without the camp.  However, it is the last three words of this verse that caught my eye this morning.  The question arose, who is doing the reproaching?  Why would we carry the reproach with us?  Why not forsake and leave the sin, with its reproach, in the camp and meet Jesus without the camp?  Why not come to him completely clean?  Because forsaking and confession is not enough.  In order to make things right, there must be forgiveness.  Jesus grants it.  We must accept it.  Yet, there is one more question we can ask which will be the subject of this entry.  Why is it we do not want to bear our reproach?

My father bought a parcel of land in the wilderness of New York State.  Yes, there truly is such a thing.  The state is not one entire city.  He bought sixty-six acres of a defunct potato farm and turned it back into a forest.  He planted several species of fir trees and simply allowed the rest of the land to return to its natural state.  He had several projects going at one time.  He cleared two camp sights.  The upper camp sight was only accessible in dry times.  The other was the upper camp sight behind a pond.  This was a bit harder to get to and was our summer camp sight.  He also cleared land for a volleyball court.  Behind the court was his pet project.  He was building a log cabin-style latrine with the timber he had planted a couple of decades earlier.  He had this dream of cutting down red pine and assembling this facility like a lincoln log set.  It only got so high as to be able to see over it so that a sibling would not disturb you while you uncovered your feet.  The thing is, when someone had to go, it was no mystery.  The toilet paper was kept at the campsite, so when one of us had to go, we took a roll in hand for all to see.  We knew where they were going and what they were going to do when they got there.  The TP was a clear indication of the intentions and needs of the one carrying it.  When one first took the roll and paraded towards the latrine, it was embarrassing.  Everyone knew our business.  However, as we all had to do so from time to time, the reproach dissipated.  We did not like to broadcast an unpleasant subject because we were too proud to admit something that everyone had to do.

Not that Jesus Christ is a latrine.  Absolutely not.  But the similarity of removing oneself and bearing our reproach is similar.  We are not restored until we leave at the feet of Jesus all that we have done wrong.  We are not restored until there is forsaking by leaving the came, confession by meeting Him without the camp, and forgiveness by bearing our reproach because we have been the one who did wrong.  Depending on our nature, we fail in exercising all three.  We may forsake because we realize the consequences are too hard to bear, yet fail to confess to God that we have sinned and allow Him to correct us in our reproach.  More times than not, we confess our faults because our guilt needs assuaging.  But we truly do not forsake the fault and return to it shortly.  If we are successful in the first two, we might fail in seeking God’s forgiveness for our sin.  We are still not restored.  This is also where many live their lives before God.  This will not do.  We may not like bearing our reproach.  It is uncomfortable and many may see it.  They may see the tears.  They may see the altar calls.  They may see the confession.  They may see it all and our pride simply keeps us from making restoration complete.  Bearing our reproach is something that needs to occur no matter the outcome.  Until we take upon ourselves the reality of our sin, there is no restoration.