Jesus as Psychologist

Jesus, particularly in Matthew’s Gospel, shows himself to precede psychologists Jung and Freud by hundreds of years with several of his extremely insightful teachings on shadow work: (1) the metaphors of having a “log in your own eye” and seeing the splinter in your neighbor’s eye (Matthew 7: 3–5), (2) the teaching that “the eye is the lamp of the body” (Matthew 6: 22–23), and (3) coming to terms with your [inner] opponent before he can “take you to court and make you pay the last penny” (Matthew 5: 25–26). I would also like to point out a lesser-noted teaching that uses the imagery of Satan. It warns you against trying to cast out your demons, who find no place to occupy, return to find you “all swept and tidied” (Matthew 12: 43–45), then bring with them “seven other demons,” and you’re worse than you were before. This to me is sheer psychological brilliance on Jesus’s part and people instead waste time arguing about whether demons really exist. If you try to achieve a superior identity by projecting your demons onto other people or groups, and temporarily feel swept and tidied, you have only achieved a seeming and very false victory. Your ego willfulness and your superiority complex are now even more disguised—from yourself. But they are still there, and now well-defended by a sense of purity. As Jesus says in another place, you cannot “drive out Satan by Satan,” for such a “divided house cannot stand” (Luke 11: 17–18). You can only be reconciled to your shadow by honest admission and must never think you can dismiss it, deny it, or punish it. You cannot deny your ego, or it will only return in different forms.” —Richard Rohr, Yes, And …

When we talk about Christ-centered Mental Health and Addiction Treatment, we are acknowledging that all truth belongs to God. In this way, evidence-based treatment modalities reflect truths that God upholds and that His Word has declared. There are truths that transcend; heavenly realities our earthly minds grapple with, and our thirsting souls long after. But in these truths, it is God who brings the power—the power to stand against evil, to strengthen us to endure the battle, to deliver us, and to heal us. A divided house cannot stand; it is here the “let go and let God” mantra finds its authority. Let us surrender to the One who brings power in and through truth to transform us. —DH