Opening the abscess of accusation.
Mark 6:34 NLT
[34] “Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”
When Jesus saw the crowd, He had had compassion on them. What did He see in the Spirit? He saw flocks of sheep milling around, …but no shepherd! That touched Him deeply.
Why did He have compassion on them? They had no one to show them where to find the green pastures and quiet waters they desperately needed. Despite all the “shepherds” in their community, the religious leaders who were supposed to show them where to find nourishment for their souls, these “shepherds” turned out to be “hirelings”, people who looked after their own needs, and neglected the sheep. In fact, they not only neglected the sheep, they put burdens on them too heavy for them to bear. It’s no wonder Jesus had compassion on the crowd.
However, Jesus didn’t feel sorry for the people or commiserate with them. That would have made them feel like victims. “He began to teach them many things.” Why did Jesus show compassion by teaching them “many things”? In other words, what did Jesus do that worked?
He began to teach them God’s word, the truth about how to live according to God’s Word, and to show them where to find spiritual green pastures and living water.
This revelation got me thinking. Everywhere we go, we find sheep without shepherds. People everywhere are struggling with different issues. There are also many “hirelings” around to give them useless counsel at a price, either false shepherds in the churches or worldly counsellors who ignore God’s Word and try to “fix” people the world’s way.
People spend years studying to be psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, even social workers, arming themselves with worldly wisdom that excludes the wisdom of God who created people and knows how they function. Their’s is a come-back counsel. Their sessions can last for months and the more often they see their client, the more money they earn.
Now, not every trained counsellor is mercenary. There are many who genuinely try to help their clients but, without God’s wisdom, their counsel achieves little.
Let’s look at one common scenario. The world is full of people who have been offended in one way or another. There are flocks of “sheep” all over who carry grudges, who are angry, full of hate and revenge, bitter, unhappy, and depressed.
So, after a few trips to the counsellor, they learn that they have a disorder, an emotional “sickness” which, supposedly, can be treated with therapy or medication. A diagnosis takes the burden of responsibility for their reactions against those who offend them and turns them into victims. They attend many sessions or take many tablets that damp down their emotions but don’t fix the problem.
Some have anger problems, so they are sent to another “expert” to learn “anger management.” After a few sessions, they feel competent to manage their anger until…someone triggers their rage again by touching on something that reminds them of the original issue. They explode over something seemingly quite trivial, overreacting like volcanoes to a minor issue.
Why didn’t their anger management course provide the help they needed? The answer is simple. They were not taught to deal with the original cause of their anger.
An emotional problem is like having an infected wound in our flesh. If we leave it there, it will become an abscess full of infection. When someone inadvertantly touches it, the pain is intense. It’s no use putting a bandaid on the infected place. The abscess must be opened, cleaned out and allowed to heal.
Often, in someone’s childhood, a person of significance said or did something to cause that person emotional pain. The hurt festers inside so, to hide the infection, the offended person covers it with a “bandaid” by resorting to anger. Every time anyone touches the sore spot, anger flares up to cover it, far greater than the situation that triggered the anger and…the angry person turns the blame on the innocent person who inadvertently touched the anger button.
Now, we have two offended people. One person’s angry aggression has multiplied into another person’s hurt. Like a game of dominoes, one offended person offends another and so they fall, one by one.
Now, we have a family or a community of hurt people hurting one another, and the hireling can’t help. His diagnosis, counsel, or drugs can do nothing to heal the hurt.
God’s wisdom, in His Word, prescribes a far more effective way to deal with anger. Let me use a rather bizarre illustration.
The best way to treat an abscess or infected wound is to open it, drain the pus, clean the infected area inside and allow the natural process of healing to close the wound. A scar might remain but there is no more pain, swelling, or infection in that spot.
The same with an emotional lesion which happens when someone offends us. We rehearse it, dwell on it and let it become an infection in our souls.
The only way to heal it, like an abscess in our bodies, is to open it up by acknowledging and confessing the sins of attitude we have harboured…the anger, resentment, bitterness the offense caused, until it became a festering “abscess”.
Next, clean it out by forgiving the offender. Forgiving is simply cancelling the offender’s debt and no longer holding him/her accountable for the words or deeds that caused the offense.
As an aside, forgiveness does not excuse the offender’s action, it does not trivialise the offense, nor is it about our emotions. We don’t forgive because we feel like forgiving or withhold forgiveness because we don’t feel like forgiving. We forgive because God requires it since He has forgiven our debt against Him. In fact, Jesus paid the debt for all sin, ours and the sins of those who sin against us. To refuse to forgive is to demand justice and punishment a second time which is illegal. We think we have the right to punish the person who offended us by withholding forgiveness when, in fact, we are punishing ourselves. We feel bad, we carry the grudge. We have no peace.
The worst of all is that God withdraws His forgiveness of our sin when we refuse to forgive another.
Matthew 18:32-34 NLT
[32] “Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. [33] Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ [34] Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.”
Once the “abscess” caused by an offense is opened up and cleaned out, it will heal as we apply the balm of God’s truth to the wound. All bad feelings will be gone, permanantly. No more anger, unhappiness or depression!
The cure for an offended spirit is to forgive the offender…once for-all, permanent, no-maintence healing…never to cause pain again. There is no need for long-term therapy or expensive medication…not even for a counsellor or a mediator. The healing process continues through the application of God’s Word.
Jesus made this bold claim,
John 8:31-32, 34-36 NLT
[31] “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. [32] And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”…
[34] Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. [35] A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. [36] So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”
Forgiveness costs nothing but the benefits are out of this world! Forgiving someone who’s sinned against you is the most healing and liberating thing you can ever do for your own soul.
To be continued…