Pride and Shame
The Woman With and Issue of Blood
“And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.” (Luke 8:43-48)
Reading the Word
Those six verses describe the account of a woman with a distressing medical condition. I’ve often spoken on the importance of reading the bible directly rather than having someone tell you what it says. I was reminded of the importance of this earlier today when I stumbled across a brief excerpt from a church service where a man is preaching the “meaning” of this passage to the congregation. Having just read the account from Luke 8 above and before reading the transcript of that sermon excerpt, ask yourself if you see anything at all about “pride” in that text, let alone having “pride in yourself.” The transcript follows.
Excerpt from a Sermon on Luke 8
“And she is a woman who has been ill for 12 years. So, she’s likely by the standards of today an old, ill woman and when Christ turns to see her, He does not say, “Fear not, woman, I, Jesus Christ of Nazareth hath healed thee.” That’s not what he says. He says to her, kindly and wisely, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” Now, if faith is simply defined as belief without proof, then this woman has faith in abundance. And it’s not simply or solely the faith that she has in Christ’s ability to heal her. It is faith in herself. Her faith in herself has made her well. It is the belief that despite what she is being told about who she is and what she’s worth, she knows her life has value. Her life matters, if only to herself. And she’s not going to allow society to shame her into the grave. Her pride in herself, her pride in herself, immunizes her against that shame and allows her to take that leap of faith. Pride is the antidote to shame and the shame I’m talking about is not the shame you feel because of something you did. It is the shame you are made to feel because of who you are.”
“Enormous progress has been made in accepting LGBTQ+ people like myself and ensuring their civil rights. And yet, even today, a young person’s awareness of their place in that community, my community, is more likely to cause them anxiety and fear than it is a cause for celebration or even basic self-acceptance. Even today, a member of my community is often to fear violence and humiliation to make you feel ashamed to incarcerate you in the re-education camp of your own society. It is to make you timid. It is to make you compliant. It is to make you silent. Shame leads to silence and silence equals death. If shame leads to silents and silence equals death, then shame leads to death and the antidote to shame is what? Pride. Pride is the antidote to shame. Pride saves lives.” (From the pulpit of a church in New York City)
COMMENTARY
Yikes. That sermon excerpt is astonishingly bad in comparison to the text of Luke 8. That sermon is so far off base that, rather than providing a detailed commentary, I think I’ll just leave you to consider what you have read and to ponder the degree to which some take liberties with the word of God. There are many under the banner of Christianity in our time participating in this sort of social-justice nonsense. They briefly mention some bible story and then turn it into a treatise on their woke cause-du-jour that has precisely nothing to do with the original, biblical intent. “Jesus cleansed the temple. Clearly the Lord knew that burning incense was increasing Israel’s carbon footprint.” Nonsense. It is for this cause that the Lord taught,
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)
I have been encouraged by the numerous, well-reasoned and thoroughly biblical responses I received on facebook to the three questions directed in response to one of the many terrible assertions in that sermon, "Pride is the antidote for shame” Those questions were:
Is that true? (Proverbs 11:2)
Is pride a virtue? (Proverbs 16:8, Mark 7:20-23)
Is shame a good or bad thing? (Philippians 3:18-19)
What say you? More importantly, what saith the Lord?
- Elder Daniel Samons