EXPLORING PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY
Commentary on
brokenhearted
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the Topical Index of Commentaries
and Cross-references.
Some relevant texts
Psa 34:18
- The Lord is near to the brokenhearted,
and saves the crushed in spirit. (NRSV)
- The Lord is near to those who
are discouraged; he saves those who have lost all hope. (TEV)
Psa 51:17
- The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a
broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (NRSV)
- My sacrifice is a humble spirit, O God; you will not
reject a humble and repentant heart. (TEV)
Psa 69:20
- Insults have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for
comforters, but I found none. (NRSV)
- Insults have broken my heart,
and I am in despair. I had hoped for sympathy, but there was none; for
comfort, but I found none. (TEV)
Psa 147:3
- He heals the brokenhearted,
and binds up their wounds. (NRSV)
- He heals the broken-hearted
and bandages their wounds. (TEV)
Pro 15:13
- A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance,
but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken. (NRSV)
- When people are happy, they smile,
but when they are sad, they look depressed. (TEV)
Isa 61:1
- The spirit of the Lord God is upon
me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news
to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty
to the captives, and release to the prisoners; (NRSV)
- The Sovereign Lord has filled me
with his Spirit. He has chosen me and sent me to bring good news to the
poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to announce release to captives
And freedom to those in prison. (TEV)
Robert Bratcher and William Reyburn
(A Handbook on Psalms, New York: UBS, 1991, page 325) comment on
Psa 34:18:
The Lord is near in verse
is an expressive way of saying that the Lord is attentive and watchful,
always ready to help and to save his people. The brokenhearted could
be repentant and humble people; it seems better, however, to see them as
discouraged, just as in line b the crushed in spirit are
those who have lost all hope. The crushed in spirit may sometimes
be rendered "those who have nothing good to look forward to"...
The term "broken-hearted"
did not not appear in the original New Testament. (Though the KJV
version of Luk 4:18 includes that part of Isa 61:1, that part was a later
addition to Luke, as explained at http://www.bibletexts.com/verses/v-luk.htm.)
Mary Baker Eddy refers to "broken
hearts" many times, including:
- S&H 66:6 Trials teach
mortals not to lean on a material staff,--a broken reed, which pierces
the heart. We do not half remember this in the sunshine of joy and
prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through great tribulation we enter the
kingdom. Trials are proofs of God's care. Spiritual development germinates
not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes, but when these decay,
Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of
earth. Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine
goodness and love.
- S&H 364:16-31 Here is
suggested a solemn question, a question indicated by one of the needs of
this age. Do Christian Scientists seek Truth as Simon sought the Saviour,
through material conservatism and for personal homage? Jesus told Simon
that such seekers as he gave small reward in return for the spiritual purgation
which came through the Messiah. If Christian Scientists are like Simon,
then it must be said of them also that they ^love^ little. On the other
hand, do they show their regard for Truth, or Christ, by their genuine
repentance, by their broken hearts, expressed by meekness and human
affection, as did this woman? If so, then it may be said of them, as Jesus
said of the unwelcome visitor, that they indeed love much, because much
is forgiven them.
- S&H 366:30 If we would
open their prison doors for the sick, we must first learn to bind up the
broken-hearted. If we would heal by the Spirit, we must not hide
the talent of spiritual healing under the napkin of its form, nor bury
the ^morale^ of Christian Science in the grave-clothes of its letter. The
tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience
with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing
theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which
are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine
Love.
- Un 61:23 Christian Science
is both demonstration and fruition, but how attenuated are our demonstration
and realization of this Science! Truth, in divine Science, is the stepping-stone
to the understanding of God; but the broken and contrite heart
soonest discerns this truth, even as the helpless sick are soonest healed
by it. Invalids say, "I have recovered from sickness;" when the
fact really remains, in divine Science, that they never were sick.
- No 43:12 The following extract
from a letter is a specimen of those received daily: "Your book Science
and Health is healing the sick, binding up the broken-hearted, preaching
deliverance to the captive, convicting the infidel, alarming the hypocrite,
and quickening the Christian."
- My 132:24 Divine Love will
also rebuke and destroy disease, and destroy the belief of life in matter.
It will waken the dreamer--the sinner, dreaming of pleasure in sin; the
sick, dreaming of suffering matter; the slothful, satisfied to sleep and
dream. Divine Love is our only physician, and never loses a case. It binds
up the broken-hearted; heals the poor body, whose whole head is
sick and whose whole heart is faint; comforts such as mourn, wipes away
the unavailing, tired tear, brings back the wanderer to the Father's house
in which are many mansions, many welcomes, many pardons for the penitent.
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Copyright 2001 Robert
Nguyen Cramer