Go to Jesus Outside the Camp
Compare Hebrews 13:10–14, Mark 8:34, Matthew 10:38, Luke 14:27,
and Galatians 2:20. What does it mean to go to Jesus outside the
camp?
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The place outside the gate was the most impure of the whole camp. The
carcasses of the sacrificial animals were burned there (Lev. 4:12). Lepers
also were excluded from the camp (Lev. 13:46), and blasphemers and other
criminals were executed there (Lev. 24:10–16, 23; 1 Kings 21:13; Acts 7:58).
These regulations presupposed that the presence of God was within the
camp. Anything that was impure was cast outside because God was unwill-
ing to see any “unclean” or “indecent” thing in it (Num. 5:3, Deut. 23:14).
Jesus suffered on the cross outside Jerusalem (John 19:17–20). This
emphasizes the shame that was cast upon Him (Heb. 12:2). He was offi-
cially condemned as one who had “blasphemed the name” and, therefore,
was repudiated by Israel and executed outside the wall (Mark 14:63, 64;
see Lev. 24:11, 16). Jesus was cast outside the camp as a “shameful,”
“unclean,” or “indecent” thing (Heb. 12:2). Paul, however, exhorts believ-
ers to follow Jesus outside the gate, enduring the shame that He endured
(Heb. 12:2; see Heb. 13:13). This also was the path Moses followed, who
chose to bear “the reproach of Christ” instead of the treasures of Egypt
(Heb. 11:26).
Paradoxically, however, Hebrews suggests that God’s presence is now
outside the camp. The action of following Jesus outside the camp means
not only “bearing His reproach,” or shame, but also going “forth to Him”
(Heb. 13:13, NKJV) just as those Israelites who “sought the Lord” went
“outside the camp” in the desert when Moses removed God’s tent from
the camp after the golden-calf controversy (Exod. 33:7. NKJV). This
account suggests that the rejection of Jesus by unbelievers also implied
the rejection of God, as Israel did in the golden-calf apostasy (Exodus 32,
Exodus 33). Thus, the path of suffering and shame also is the path to God.
Paul invites readers to follow Jesus as “the author and finisher” of
their faith (Heb. 12:2), implicitly inviting them also to consider their
present sufferings a momentary discipline that will yield “the peace-
able fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12:11). They are leaving behind a
corrupted city, or camp, in search of “the city that is to come,” whose
architect is God (Heb. 13:14, ESV; Heb. 11:10, 16).
What does it mean for you to follow Jesus “outside the camp”?
What are those aspects of the life of faith in Jesus that may bring
“reproach” or “shame” from those around you?