Unconditional Hope & Healing
What DID Jesus DO?
“I think we should throw a Goodwill Galentine’s Gala,” I told Jody, my partner in crime in women’s ministry, as we sat in her living room attempting to use our survey results to plan our next event.
“What the heck is a Goodwill Galentine’s Gala?” she asked while simultaneously laughing at the name.
“Right now, it’s a figment of my imagination, but here’s my vision…” I proceeded to explain to Jody my idea of throwing a Galentine’s Day Gala for the ladies in our ministry and their best gal pals where they could upcycle their old bridesmaid's dresses, wedding dresses, mother-of-the-bride dresses, homecoming, and prom dresses. Or, if they didn’t have anything hideous in their closets, they could go to Goodwill or some other equally impressive thrift store and get a thrifted/cheap dress–the tackier the better.
She looked at me with that, “You might have lost your mind, but I kind of like it” look she often gives me, and we set the wheels in motion.
We threw a party, complete with tacky dresses, a catered meal, karaoke, mocktails, and dancing, and the people showed up–with friends! Lots of them. When we first started planning this event, I had low expectations. I thought we might have 10 ladies show up, but we sold 25 tickets the first day they were for sale. That 25 multiplied and multiplied again, and we ended up with around 70 ladies in their tackiest formals and Galentine’s Day outfits hanging out, laughing, singing, dancing, and just having a great time.
I was in the hallway making sure our servers (aka–our loving husbands who can’t say no) had everything they needed for dinner when I saw a woman I didn’t recognize from the church but looked familiar. I smiled, greeted her, and we talked for just a few seconds before I zipped on to my next task.
After the event was over, Jody’s husband, my neighbor, friend, and one of our pastors, asked me if I happened to run into this lady. I didn’t know her name, but I knew who she was as he described her. I told him about my brief encounter with her in the hallway and how she looked familiar and looked at me like I should know her.
He said he had the same interaction with her, except that she had called him by name. Soon, she told him her name and explained to him that she had gone to church with us 20-plus years earlier at our old church, but that she was asked to leave that church because she was 15 and pregnant, and the church leadership said it made the church look bad.
Jeff was speechless at first, and then she explained it happened right after our mass exodus from the church–after my dad got blackballed and Jeff resigned.
He apologized, and she returned to the party, but I haven’t been able to quit thinking about his conversation with her. I can’t help but wonder how those wounds from that church have affected her, what her life has been like for the past 20ish years, and how it was she ended up at our Goodwill Galentine’s Gala having a blast, making connections, and hopefully feeling nothing but love from all of us.
I hear these stories of churches treating people like pariahs, and it both breaks my heart and makes me righteously angry because there are so many churches that claim Christ and that Christians that wear WWJD bracelets but completely miss the message of what Jesus did and how treated people when he walked this earth.
Aligning Words with Actions
At the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, he returned home. It wasn’t exactly what I would call a gracious homecoming, as his community members ended up driving him out of town to throw him over a cliff. You can read more about that here:
https://kristenneighbarger.com/2024/02/07/calling/
After he walks away from that mob, he goes to Capernaum where he preaches on the Sabbath. Luke says:
“His teaching stunned and dazed them, for he spoke with penetrating words and great authority.” Luke 4:32 TPT
The translation here gave me pause immediately–his teaching stunned and dazed them? What does that even mean? When I dug into the original text, I learned the original word is ekplesso, which is a strong verb whose literal translation is “struck with amazement,” “astonished,” “panic-stricken,” “shocked,” “something that takes your breath away,” “to expel,” or “to drive out.”
Those are some strong and powerful descriptions that illustrate the impact Jesus had when he spoke. His words and message were so powerful, they cut to the quick of his listeners’ hearts and amazed them to the point of taking their breath away.
It wasn’t just Jesus’s words that were powerful and affected his listeners’ hearts, though. His actions matched his teaching. Immediately after this description, Luke says:
In the congregation, there was a demonized man, who screamed out with a loud voice, “Go away and leave us alone. We know who you are. You’re Jesus of Nazareth, God’s Holy One. What do you want with us? Have you come to destroy us already?”
Immediately the demon hurled the man down on the floor in front of them. But Jesus rebuked the demon, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And without causing him any harm, the demon came out of him.
Great astonishment swept over the people, and they said among themselves, “What kind of man is this who has such power and authority? With a mere word, he commands demons to come out, and they obey him!” Luke 4:33-36 TPT
Can you imagine what it would have been like to be in the seats and watch this exchange after just being moved so deeply by Christ’s words? Passion and power were present in his words, but they were also present in his actions as Jesus acknowledged this demon, silenced him, and cast him out of this man–healing the man of his demon possession immediately.
I’ve sat and served in churches that would have thrown the baby out with the bathwater, or thrown the man out with his demon instead of offering hope and healing. If you’re in this space today because you’re seeking hope and healing from church hurt, spiritual abuse, or religious trauma, then you likely recognize this dangerous theology and the damage it can do all too well.
How easy would it have been for Jesus to tell the ushers to get that guy out of the service instead of meeting his needs by casting out that demon and giving that man freedom?
He didn’t do that, though, because his actions matched his words, and ours need to do the very same thing.
Unconditional Healing
Jesus doesn’t stop there, though. He goes on to heal so many more in that town. Luke tells us:
After leaving the synagogue, Jesus went into Simon’s house, where Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever. The disciples begged Jesus to help her. Jesus stood over her and rebuked the fever, and she was healed instantly. Then she got up and began to serve them.
At sunset, the people brought all those who were sick to Jesus to be healed. Jesus laid his hands on them one by one, and he healed them all of different illnesses.
Demons also came out of many of them. Knowing that Jesus was the Anointed One, the demons shouted while coming out, “You are the Messiah, the Son of El Shaddai!” But Jesus rebuked them and commanded them to be silent.
At daybreak the next morning, the crowds came and searched everywhere for him, but Jesus had already left to go to a secluded place. When they finally found him, they held him tightly, begging him to stay with them in Capernaum. Luke 4:38-42 TPT
I love the picture of hope and healing Jesus paints through this narrative–as he goes to Simon’s house and heals his mother-in-law and then continues to heal everyone who was brought to him without question or conditions. Jesus simply touched them, and they were healed, and that meant that they had to get close enough to Christ for him to touch them.
Jesus didn’t interrogate the sick to see if they were worthy of healing.
He didn’t tell them to come back when they had their lives together.
He didn’t tell them their sins made him look bad.
He didn’t hesitate to offer healing to anyone.
He didn’t tell them their sickness was their fault and they deserved the consequences.
No, he offered them hope and healing unconditionally.
Shouldn’t we do the same?
Jesus with Skin On
I think, sometimes, we’re all guilty of missing the point or not being able to see the big picture, especially where spiritual/religious matters are concerned. Too often, we want to argue about whether or not people can heal or Jesus can heal today instead of looking beyond the literal to the underlying message–when people came to Jesus to be healed, he healed them unconditionally and without question.
If we want to be like Jesus in our world today, we need to offer that same hope and healing and show people Jesus so much that they get close enough to touch him, so he can heal them too.
Have you ever thought about that?
How many people who cross our paths daily or who walk into our churches weekly are desperate for the healing that can only come from getting close enough to Christ to reach out to touch him? I’m not talking about physical illness here; I’m talking about the mental, emotional, and spiritual pain and trauma that so many people are carrying around with them.
And, we have a choice:
We can be like Jesus and offer hope and healing unconditionally
Or, we can ask them to leave because they make us look bad
I love the phrase “Jesus with skin on.” Admittedly, it’s a little strange out of context, but when we think about what it means to live our lives as Jesus with skin on in this world, it hits a little harder, doesn’t it?
If we want to be Jesus with skin on in this world, we have to offer unconditional hope and healing to everyone we cross paths with, regardless of their situation in life, and without asking questions first to deem if they’re worthy of getting close enough to touch Christ.
When I think about that lady who was a young 15-year-old pregnant girl seeking hope and healing in church only to be asked to leave, it breaks my heart and it makes me so ashamed to have ever been associated with that church. It just makes me wish I could go back in time and find that scared teenager, hug her, tell her she’s welcome here, and offer her the unconditional hope and healing Christ would have shown her.
Friends, if we want to live our lives asking what Jesus would do, we have to know what Jesus DID do, and one thing he did was to heal and offer hope unconditionally. I know it isn’t easy. I know it’s easier to separate ourselves and to judge silently than it is to be Jesus with skin on to those who are in desperate need of the hope and healing of Christ, but just because something is easy doesn’t make it right.
The next time the pariah walks into your church, your book club, your kid’s scout troop, your gym, or your workplace, my prayer is that you welcome them with open arms and be the Jesus they need in their world.
Reflections:
What’s your biggest struggle when it comes to being Jesus to the least of these or welcoming the pariahs into your community?
Have you had any church hurt/spiritual abuse/religious trauma related to being treated like an outcast in a faith community or watching someone else be treated this way? How did you respond?
How inclusive is your faith community? What needs to change there?
That was hard to read. I'm still feeling for that 15-yr old who needed love but was turned away.