shamed: the Cost of Shame
‘For here is the way God so loved the world—He gave His only unique Son as a gift.’ (John 3:16a, TPT)
April 8th, 2022
FOOL-ish, i.e. lacking judgement or sense; ill-considered; unwise; preposterous; thoughtless; reckless; absurd; idiotic.
1 Corinthians 1:18: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.’ (NKJV)
Women have often and long been overlooked, disrespected, despised, lesser participants; however, equally necessary, equal partners, in life. In fact, in some cultures today women are still kept covered and hidden, are owned or considered pieces of property and easily discarded as trash—what is important to women thought of as rubbish. But today as we step into the Scriptures, we find two women (of questionable character), yet who Jesus loved deeply and fought for passionately.
We first see ourselves waiting in the noonday sun, covering our eyes against the blowing dust, and we glimpse Jesus sitting with a woman at a well. Jesus seems completely unaware to us outsiders looking in—others will soon be talking! You know, comments like, ‘Of course, Jesus is chatting it up with that woman!’ and ‘Naturally, she would have her eye on Jesus; she’s had every other man in town!’ or ‘Maybe He hasn’t heard what she’s like, who she is!’ Isn’t it funny to consider His disciples likely thought Jesus didn’t know anything about her?!
We see, however, the gentle but certain gaze of a loving Savior searching inside of her empty vessel, carefully chiding her about why she dried up, and not what, but Who, can fill her to eternal overflowing. I can picture this myself, having been a person, a woman, who has sought a missing piece to my puzzle, a dyke for the leak in my dam, the reason why. I see myself, this woman at Jacob’s Well, staring at the bottom of it, staring inward, wondering what face might stare back. And suddenly this voice speaks, and it’s not that He recognizes me, but He recognizes my emptiness, knows my searching. In one piercing look, the fissures in my soul begin to meld. I got to tell someone, everyone! They have called me fool-ish long enough! This man told me everything I ever needed to know about myself!
He recognized her as soon as she crept into the room. He heard the gasps of those who surrounded Him, those languishing at the table near Him, a look of condemnation apparent on their faces. Tears drew a roadmap across her face of where she’d been, creating a roadblock on her chin pointing toward her future; whatever that meant. She crouched at His feet; she couldn’t stop the desperation of crying and it seemed to match the shock of the onlookers. Bringing from her pocket she pulled the precious alabaster bottle and held cautiously with trembling hands. Breaking it, the expensive oils mingled with her tears and made new tracks across the feet of Jesus. Ashamed, she wiped them with her hair, hiding herself behind a curtain of hair and shame, remorse and fool-ishness. At the sound of her name of His lips, bravely she raised her gaze to meet His. “Daughter,” He murmured, prophesying that her name would always remain on the tongues of those who followed the Scriptures.
Is it any wonder that we don’t understand why Jesus attracted the broken, the perishing, the outcasts? We often won’t find ourselves lost and confused there, why He wasted His time. We like to see ourselves godly and Christlike so we imagine Jesus surely wouldn’t stoop to that level, right, because we wouldn’t?! My God! I’m so GRATEFUL Jesus looks in the trenches and garbage pits of life! That’s where He found me! At the bottom of a bottle. Lost in a pit. Forgotten in a dump of my making. What a fool-ish thing for us to think, that He doesn’t see the broken and pursue the lost and relentlessly heal the crushed in spirit!
John 3:16b, ‘SOW NOW: whoever believes in Him will never perish, but experience everlasting life.’ (TPT)
