Healing Shame
A woman came to Jesus and touched the fringe of His garment. Instantly she was healed. If that was all she needed, perhaps Jesus would have just left it at that. Instead, He stopped everything until the huge crowd of people heard her tell her story of what the Lord had just done for her. Then, He said, “You are whole. Go in peace.” She was already healed, but now she needed to be made whole.
We know this woman had suffered from a bloody discharge for 12 years. We do not know why. Had she caught some rare disease? Had she been working as a prostitute and got an STD? Had she had an abortion that damaged her? Was she the victim of abuse? Those details do not matter. What matters is that she not only was healed but she was made whole.
When you came to Jesus He set you free from your past. He healed you of your chronic sinning. He also wants to heal you of your shame. This dear lady had been shamed because of her condition. Everyone in town knew about it and avoided her—they did not want any part of her plague. In front of this crowd of critical and judgmental neighbors, Jesus lifted her up and called her “daughter” and “whole.” (See Luke 8:40-56.)
Jesus makes you whole from your past. Accept what He calls you. Don’t settle back into the popular opinion of yourself. See yourself through Jesus’s eyes.
Human efforts make things worse
Jesus was not afraid to speak to the touchy issues in a person’s life. However, unlike a daytime talk show, He spoke in a way that healed. To the woman at the well, He said, “You have had 5 husbands and the one you have now is not your husband.” Ouch!
But Jesus spoke to a person’s mess with a message. Too often therapy, counseling, and human interventions only reveal problems without helping one recover. One woman recently told me that the classes on abuse she is taking are making her relive all the hurts and wounds she had gotten away from, causing her to wish to return to the drug life she once lived to escape the pain. That is not being made whole.
I hear many songs come across the speakers in stores and businesses which only reopen the wound. They sob about the betrayal, the loss, and so on. They do not give hope. Most secular attempts at addressing problems with the human condition are simply thermometers telling us where we are rather than thermostats helping change the emotional and spiritual environment.
Focus on the solution to find healing
Jesus did not ask that woman how she lost 5 husbands. We do not know if they died because of her poor cooking skills, if they divorced her, or what. He did not ask what it must have been like to go through a wedding with 5 guys. Anyone who has lost 5 husbands either to death or divorce has a world of hurt to recover from. He came to give a fountain of life to a woman who had been left dry and dehydrated by life. (See John 4)
Looking at your own life and see it through Jesus’s eyes. Drink deeply of His Spirit and Truth. Be like the woman at the well who ran and told others so they, too, could find healing. Be like the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and “go in peace” because your past is not you anymore.