Dear brothers and sisters, I am Won KIM, voicing Pastor Caleb Soo Lee Chong. Shalom. This week we will carry on with the topic, “Casting off the trauma of the past.”

My childhood experiences impact my present, which, in turn, will define my future. As such, if we want our future to be bright and sunny, we must not try to tip-toe gingerly around the past, but need to change things right away! Avoiding our inner hurts will only offer them time and space to multiply. Because these hurts have never left us, they will work themselves into psychological complexes, and play parasite as they take up residence within our subconscious minds. In other words, these negative complexes will become part of my existing psychological framework and allow fear to be built up from within.

There are some mental states of fear that are beyond what we can bear. In such cases, our subconsciousness will transform these moods to take the form of physical or mental ailments. Thus, there are times when we fall into a state of a negative ego with a poor self-image. In the past, we might have hurt someone and this could have left a raw guilt deep within us.

Not all of our hurts have come from others, of course; we are sometimes responsible for this condition, too. There may be instances where the sense of guilt that refuses to go away could have come from my own sins: I could have hurt, messed up or even destroyed the life of someone… The resulting sense of such guilt nags me to no end, and I am not able to put it down. My life is blue all day, every day.

Needless to say, some hurts may be traced to other people or one’s own family, such as sexual abuse during childhood, leaving behind deep seated phobias of the opposite sex that may lead to homosexual behaviour on the way to adulthood; these are highly possible.

Dear brothers and sisters, such impact on one’s subconscious mind leaves deeps scars on the soul, no matter where the disorientation came from. People born with a disability would have a low self-esteem; likewise, parents of children born with special needs would feel weighed down by a sense of guilt, too. Such hurts start with congenital disorders, cannot be avoided, or comes as a fait accompli, so to speak.

Other than coming from natural causes, there are also cases where nurture plays an important role as well. Such situations are attributed to environmental factors or the people in contact with the child at a tender age. No matter what these are, there is a need to face the situation rather than trying to avoid them. Jesus Christ teaches us how to face our past so that we are in a better position to deal with the present – and prepare for the bright future ahead.

What gave courage to this woman to bear witness to the crowd?

We saw the dramatic transformation that took place in the life of the Samaritan woman. Obviously, this change did not come from within herself. The change of character went from one of fear to courage and from a hidden existence to an open one. This transformation did not proceed from her, but was obviously a result of the encounter between Jesus Christ and herself. Prior to this, she had been avoiding fellow villagers like the plague. To the surprise of all and sundry, that one encounter caused her to run back to the town of Samaria, shouting, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’” (this from the Bible in the book of John chapter 4 verse 29). To describe her transformation as dramatic is an understatement. The gospel of Jesus had caused the “impossible” to become possible.

How did Jesus view the Samaritan woman?

This episode is best understood against the background of Jewish culture two thousand years ago. It was socially unacceptable for a man and woman to meet in public at that time. Jesus took the first step and asked the Samaritan woman for a drink and proceeded to talk to her. Now, that was an extraordinary thing to do!

In addition, Jews regarded the Samaritans as foreigners and were often less than friendly towards them. They held the Samaritans as unclean, ethnic half-breeds and the off-spring from intermarriages with gentiles (this is from John chapter 4 verse 9). The Jews always stood high and mighty over them, and regarded the Samaritans as inferiors.

Now, Jesus stood out differently from other Jews. He struck a conversation with the Samaritan woman after a seemingly casual request for a drink from her before leading her into disclosing her sins and hurts.

The Samaritan woman said to Him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” To which Jesus replied, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.... Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” WOW! The Samaritan woman was stunned by these words and thought, “I would never have to come to this well again after drinking this.” And thus, she said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus then told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” With these words, our Lord shifted the focus to her life and her morals. “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.” She was amazed by what Jesus knew about her life. It was indeed the Love of our Lord that gave life to this encounter.

How did the woman respond to the call of Jesus?

Meanwhile, the woman began to open up herself gradually, and proceeded to know Jesus better. The bible had begun with: “The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew …’” (in verse 9). but added that a few verses later, she said: “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.” (verse 19). Finally, the woman said she knew that “Christ is the Messiah” that everyone is looking forward to (verses 25-26). She went through a sea-change the moment she opened her heart to receive the gospel. Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and told the people the good news. (verses 28-30)

Dear brothers and sisters, what a dramatic process that was!

Another dramatic change involved this tax-collector Zacchaeus who had been suffering from multiple hurts as well. Many of these could be traced to congenital causes as he was born “a little man” (short); indeed, he had strived to overcome what was perceived as a physical defect. He put in much effort and managed to land himself into the much-coveted post of chief tax collector in Jericho. Along the way, he could have resorted to certain means and caused hurt to others.

Walk towards Christ with the gospel in mind, as we draw love and power from Him. Yes, we can still begin life afresh!

Dear brothers and sisters, similar cases continue to crop up in our lives. Past hurts develop to inflict sufferings on others without our lives being easier for it either. As has been said, “While I will not be better off if I did not make things easier for others, but I would feel more bitter myself if I make others feel miserable.” Well said!

We pray to our Heavenly Father to help us face our problems, in the way Jesus Christ had faced ours. Jesus made the first step to walk towards and meet us, in order that we hand in all the dark sides of our lives voluntarily. Let us tell Him our hurts and seek His forgiveness and healing, instead of venting our frustrations through drinking bouts, crying and wallowing in self-pity. All of these are in vain.

If your kite comes detached from its string, would you just sit around and wait for it to come back? Or can you get it back by yelling your head off? Of course not! Likewise, would someone who has walked out of your life come back into your arms if you cried your eyes out? I bet not. You should let the issue rest, pick yourself up and face reality. Re-orient your mental state, pull yourself up and start afresh! Remember never indulge in “kite-play” again! Focus your feelings and efforts only on the good stuff, so that your renewed life in the days ahead can shine once more. That would be the way to handle the problems bedeviling us.

In our earlier story, the Samaritan woman knew about Jesus Christ from the start as she had met Him. The encounter took place because Jesus came looking for her in His great Love. Hence, we should go back to the gospel in our humility, and pledge to Him with sincerity and willingness, saying, “Here I am, Lord. Please send me! Help me, save me! May Your Love fill me up!” That should be our attitude, instead of clinging on to the past and refusing to let go. No, we should not be stubborn and continue to cling tight to those redundant obstacles and obsolete concepts that are holding back the renewal of myself and with it, my life.

We treat many concepts from the past as the golden rule, when these were not entirely true.  We have to let them go.  For instance, there are many who view the Christian faith as a religion from the west; meanwhile, others are saying that it is no different from other religions -- it just shows the way to do good. Now, these people are not the experts in religious studies that they seem to be. Indeed, these folks have treated past concepts as absolute. Dear friends, you can continue to hold fast with all your might; but note that you end up refusing to open yourself up to God.

Dear brothers and sisters, today we are hearing good tidings that declare: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. In Christ, God was pierced through for our sins, crushed for our iniquities… and by his wounds we are healed. And in Him, we can start afresh!

Hence, may we, too, open up our hearts to the full when we hear the clarion call initiated by Christ Jesus to us and respond to Him without further delay!  Only in this manner can we find complete and absolute healing of our inner hurts! May His Love touch our hearts once again!

Let us pray

Our dear Father in Heaven, we know that Your Love in Christ is true because You have given us Your only Son and showered the choicest blessings upon us:  Christ has suffered for our sake. We know that hurts and the ensuing sufferings are not easy to bear. However, we will continue in faith, and hold high the belief that the sufferings borne by Christ on the cross is where our own healings begin. Our suffering is light and temporary and is producing for us an eternal glory that is greater than anything we can imagine, and it is for this reason that we are willing to face it without fear. The Love of Christ fills every one of us and heals our wounds to leave the sufferings behind us. Henceforth, we will be able to look forward to days of sunshine ahead, as we glorify you, bear witness to you and show others how my life went through the dramatic changes. I know that I have been crucified with Christ and no longer live; it is Christ who lives in me. In the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!

Recommendations by Rev. Dr Caleb SOO Lee Chong

The three books “The Gospel for the Modern Man”, “Faith of the Modern Believer” and “Values for the Modern Disciple” by Rev. Dr Caleb SOO Lee Chong are worthy books to edify disciples. In order to minimize differences in the qualities amongst Christians, our churches need to set up basic courses to address these issues. In turn, this will enable all disciples to incorporate their faith into their lives and allow changes to take place through renewal of minds. May God make use of these basic courses to edify more disciples to strengthen His soldiers and claim victory on His battle-ground!

The three books “The Gospel for the Modern Man”, “Faith of the Modern Believer” and “Values for the Modern Disciple” are suitable course materials for anyone who wish to acquire understanding of the Christian faith in a more comprehensive manner. The contents are easy to grasp and relate to the real world that we are living in. They are written with an eye for the man-in-the-street and explore how to make our faith come alive in our daily social interactions.

In particular, these are suitable if you  

1. are someone who wants to understand the Christian faith or,

2. are someone who has just accepted the Christian faith or,

3. have been a Christian for many years but still hungering for a firmer grounding in the faith or,

4. are a pastor or co-worker who plans to use these materials for teaching purposes.

If you need to take up learning or use these materials in a systematic manner, please us contact at this email address.：[email protected]