God did not create us to live in shame but in relationships of care, truth and intimacy with himself and others.
Shame corrodes and corrupts and isolates from God and from others
"Weary of selfishness and pride,
False pleasures gone, vain hopes denied,
Deep in Thy wounds my shame to hide,
Christ crucified, I come."
from the hymn "Drawn to the Cross, Which Thou Hast Blest"
Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/nt/1049/j=a&jbl=30&pt=c&pn=9&pjbl=25&nt=c&nn=12&njbl=15&lpn=1&clpn=1&jil=30#ixzz2hocThtPv
One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. Jesus went into the Pharisee's house and sat down at the table. A sinful woman in the town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house. So she brought an alabaster jar of perfume. She stood at Jesus' feet, crying , and began to wash his feet with her tears. She dried his feet with her hair, kissed them many times and rubbed them with them with the perfume. The Pharisee who asked Jesus to come to his house saw this. He thought to himself, 'If Jesus were a prophet, he would know that the woman who is touching him is a sinner!"Jesus said to the Pharisee, 'Simon, I have something to say to you.'
Simon said, 'Teacher, tell me.'
Jesus said, ' There were two men. Both men owed money to the same banker. One man owed the banker 500 silver coins. THe other man owed the banker 50 silver coins. The men had no money; so they could not pay what they owed. But the banker told the men that they did not have to pay him. Which one of the two men will love the banker more?
Simon, the Pharisee, answered, 'I think it would be the one who owed him the most money.'
Jesus said to Simon, 'You are right.'
Then Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, 'Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave me no water for my feet.
But she washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
You did not kiss me, but she has been kissing my feet since I came in!You did not rub my head with oil, but she rubbed my feet with perfume.
I tell you that her many sins are forgiven.
This is clear because she showed great love.
But the person who has only a little to be forgiven will feel only a little love.'
Then Jesus said to her, 'Your sins are forgiven.'
The people sitting at the table began to think to themselves, 'Who is this man? How can he forgive sins?'
Jesus said to the woman, 'Because you believed, you are saved from your sins.
Go in peace.'"Luke 7:36-50 International Children's Bible
He has sent me to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness... He has sent me to comfort all those who are sad. He has sent me to the sorrowing people of Jerusalem. I will give them a crown to replace their ashes. I will give them the oil of gladness to replace their sorrow. I will give them clothes of praise to replace the spirit of sadness. Then they will be called Trees of Goodness. They will be like trees planted by the Lord and will show his greatness." Isaiah 61:2-3 ICB
"But he took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us. We saw his suffering. We thought God was punishing him. But he was wounded for the wrong things that we did. He was crushed for the evil things that we did. The punishment, which made us well was given to him. And we are healed because of his wounds." Isaiah 53:4-5 ICB
Shame
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shame
Shame is, variously, an affect, emotion, cognition, state, or condition. The roots of the word shame are thought to derive from an older word meaning "to cover"; as such, covering oneself, literally or figuratively, is a natural expression of shame.[1]
^ Lewis, Helen B. (1971), Shame and guilt in neurosis, International University Press, New York, p. 63, ISBN0-8236-8307-9
A "sense of shame" is the consciousness or awareness of shame as a state or condition. Such shame cognition may occur as a result of the experience of shame affect or, more generally, in any situation of embarrassment, dishonor, disgrace, inadequacy,humiliation, or chagrin.[3]
A condition or state of shame may also be assigned externally, by others, regardless of one's own experience or awareness. "To shame" generally means to actively assign or communicate a state of shame to another.
^ Broucek, Francis (1991), Shame and the Self, Guilford Press, New York, p. 5,ISBN 0-89862-444-40-8236-8307-9
Psychoanalyst Helen B. Lewis argued that, "The experience of shame is directly about the self, which is the focus of evaluation. In guilt, the self is not the central object of negative evaluation, but rather the thing done is the focus."[6] Similarly, Fossum and Mason say in their book Facing Shame that "While guilt is a painful feeling of regret and responsibility for one's actions, shame is a painful feeling about oneself as a person."[7
Following this line of reasoning, Psychiatrist Judith Lewis Herman concludes that "Shame is an acutely self-conscious state in which the self is 'split,' imagining the self in the eyes of the other; by contrast, in guilt the self is unified."[8
Simply put: A person who feels guilt is saying "I did something bad.", while someone who feels shame is saying "I am bad". There is a big difference between the two.
- ^ Lewis, Helen B. (1971), Shame and guilt in neurosis, International University Press, New York, ISBN 0-8236-8307-9
- ^ Fossum, Merle A.; Mason, Marilyn J. (1986), Facing Shame: Families in Recovery,W.W. Norton, p. 5, ISBN 0-393-30581-3
- ^ Herman, Judith Lewis (2007), "Shattered Shame States and their Repair", The John Bowlby Memorial Lecture
Simon the Pharisee said,
'If Jesus were a prophet, he would know that the woman who was touching him is sinner!"
Luke 7:39
But Jesus did know...
He knew even more than Simon knew....
He knew it all..
every last sordid detail of every wrong and destructive choice
But he also knew
the regret
the shame
the desperate cry for love
for being loved
to be cherished
to be beloved
to be welcomed with open arms, full embrace and eyes lit up with joy
to belong
to be a part
to be meaningfully connected
in deep, personal, intimate and mutually desired relationship
He knew that she loved him
He knew she knew that she only loved him because he had loved her first
you love a person not a choice not an action but a person
She knew she was not worthy
did not merit or do anything to earn his love
But she was loved, this she knew
loved completely, absolutely, thoroughly
there was no need to try to hide anything from him
there was nothing he did not see
there was nothing he did not know
He was perfectly clear about
the selfishness
the rebellion
the destructive pride
the refusal to listen
the persistence in sin
the putting of other people and things before him
the rejection of his grace before
But he saw beyond
the acts, choices, attitudes and words
to who he had made her to be
to who he wanted to make her to be
to who he was able to make her now
He saw her, all of her
He saw with kindness, with empathy, with understanding, with crystal clarity
He did not make excuse, deny, deflect or shift blame
He atoned
He forgave
He covered her
He accepted her
He loved her
He cherished her
He desired her
He hoped for her
He longed to transform
to renew
to recreate
His likeness in her
to bring her to what he has always intended for her
He knew the power of God
to cleanse
to forgive
to pardon
to justify
to change
to transform
to create anew
He knew who she was
He knew who He was
She knew only Him in a room full of those who did not know who was really there with them that day
She knew she could pour out her love on him and he would not reject
he would not scorn
he would not despise or disdain
He would receive
appreciate
admire
respect
respond in love and gratitude
They were all in the same room but these two knew a completely different universe
Oh, Simon, if only you knew who it was who was in your house that day,
who it was among you
with you
You would have poured out your tears on his beautiful feet
for they were bringing the good news of the gospel of peace
You would have been free from caring what anyone else thought at all
free even from what you thought about yourself at all
a burning, fiery, passionate love would have consumed you so completely
as to leave your old self
old life
old desires
old pursuits
old wants
old vices
all behind in a blinding flash
an all consuming, passionate love
a blazing connection
igniting
"For our God is a consuming fire" Hebrews 12:29 KJV
"Put me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm. Love is as strong as eath. Desire is as strong as the grave. Love bursts into flames. It burns like a very hot fire. Even much water cannot put our the flame of love. Floods cannot drown love. If a man offered everything in his house for love, people would totally reject it." Song of Solomon 8:6-7If human love can be described this way, how much more God, who is love himself
able to burn away all impurities, all traces of contamination, to purify
to bring us to himself
he wants love in return
not only things and actions
but my whole person
actions springing from this source of love
Oh to see you, to know you
to let your holy fire burn within
so that we are nevermore the same old selfish, stale, self-centered sinner
but pouring our our love on you and on one another for all to see
tears of amazement
gratitude
wonder
crazy love
kneeling
wiping with our hair
You
the one whom all our hearts truly long for
She alone, in this house, knew who He was
a priceless treasure none could ever take away from her
a precious person for whom all could be sacrificed
"The slave girl gave a name to the Lord who spoke to her. She said to him, 'You are 'God who sees me.''' This is because she said to herself, 'Have I really seen God who sees me?'"
Genesis 16:13 ICBYour love was enough to enable Hagar to return to a difficult situation and remain there instead of fleeing away.
You can enable me to love the one or ones that you have put in front of me
to love them as I would love you as you are loving me
"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did for me" Matthew 25:40 NIV
There is therefore now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1an example of one such woman: Perpetua
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/martyrs/perpetua.html
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