“Ignominy” is like an ugly bug we want to squash. Too hard to spell and difficult to say, if we include “y” as a vowel, half of its eight letters are vowels. We like brevity and speed. Who uses words like ignominy anyway?
But, when we slow down to study its hues and purpose, we want to know more, especially when ignominy is bonded to a particular person.
Seeing “Ignominy” Against Its Background
Hang on as we begin. “Ignominy” means “disgraceful, shameful.” It comes from Latin, “ignominia” – “disgrace, infamy, loss of a (good) name.” “In” becomes “ig.” “In” means “not, opposite of, without” + “nomen” – “name. “No name.” Aha.
As we parade this word past our lips, we clearly have another polysyllabic Latin word. How those Romans loved to congeal sounds to make a word! Elongations like “ignominy” slow us down a few milliseconds. These drawn-out words allow us to consider what we have declared or read.
Picture what this collaboration of ancient sounds describes: the ignominious peon has lost rights – privileges – liberties – identity – reputation. Imagine. He or she has no name. For some, think high school. Think object of perpetual bullying. Think sex trafficking. Think slavery.
Now, look at the words used to describe “ignominy” – words like disgraceful, shameful, and infamous. “Dis” – “away from” + “graceful” – no grace is extended – grace is withheld from him or withdrawn from her. “Shameful” – as one full of shame, this “beast” has become an object of dishonor and insult; he/she has lost esteem. “In” – “without” + “famous” (“fame”) – she is “infamous” – scandalous, notorious, profane. A divorced spouse passing her former spouse in a hallway declared: “You are a monster.”
“Ignominy” describes how low we can go. Yes, we! When our brokenness erupts, real guilt prompts us to scourge ourselves. And false guilt does the same. A member of Narcotics Anonymous said: “No one can beat me up like I can.” And, the curses of others, accurate or distorted, arrow our hearts. We participate in ignominy.
Ignominy and Us – with “Us” Enlarged and Ennobled
Still, one person described by “ignominy” surprises us. John Flavel (c.1627–1691), an English Presbyterian pastor, in his collection of sermons, “The Fountain of Life Opened Up,” wrote: “Sin put Christ through ignominy.” Christ – ignominy! What an amalgamation!
How could the sinless one (2 Cor 5:21), the one full of grace (Jn1:14) – the one accustomed to hearing full-throatedangels in counterpoint with earth bound worshipers robustly singing the glory of his name (Ps 66:2) – how could this one become ignominious – so diminished – treated as one without a name – one with no rights – no privileges? Even Calvin – of Calvin and Hobbes cartoon fame (1985-1995) – would say: “Such transmogrification is too much for us.”
Stretched Beyond Ignominy by Someone Commensurate with Our Capacity to Wonder
Still, Flavel pushes on: “Lord, if the wrath of God and man had seized me, as it did Christ, what would my condition have been then? O love unutterable and inconceivable! How glorious is my love in his red garments! This wonder begets thankfulness and confidence in the soul—Christ died—and his death has been made the satisfaction for my sin. Christ died—therefore, my soul shall never die. Who shall separate me from the love of God?”
How shall we describe what impels Flavel to make such soul-enhancing connections? Perhaps the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) – of all people! – in of all the godless books, “The Great Gatsby!” – will do: he came “face to face with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.” That’s what we find in Christ.
Is this beyond us? To accommodate such a reach, all we need is a heart like that of the needy father who literally “roared” his request to Jesus: “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mk. 9:24).
Discovering God’s love for sinners leads many to follow Jesus. We are astonished that a holy God loves sinners. So, Jesus marches on to the lowest place – the place of ignominy – to redeem. “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8).
Then, according to the counterintuitive interpersonal dynamics of the Trinity – “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Phil 2:9)! From ignominy to glory – all in one person.
As the great-soulness of Jesus draws many to him, he extends the capacity of his followers’ souls – moving them from an empty but busy – often distracted or shallow -existence – to lives that have greater reach.
Do we sense that the wonder of Jesus has stretched our souls? One way we express our astonishment is that our knees buckle. God gave Jesus the name that is above every name “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10,11). Our ardently bending knees ratify that God banished Jesus’ ignominy.
And what of our own ignominy? Christina Rossetti’s (1830 – 1894) plaintive poem reads our hearts like a book. “None other Lamb. None other name. None other hope in heaven, or earth, or sea. None other hiding place from guilt and shame. None beside Thee.” Christian, because you are “in” him, Jesus terminated your ignominy!
