What does Tribe teach about damaged goods?

At Tribe, the teaching on damaged goods does not begin with a program for fixing yourself. It begins with two Gospel scenes where the person everyone else had written off was the one who actually understood what was happening. Brian walked the congregation through Mark 14 and Luke 7, where women carrying public reputations as sinners pushed past rooms full of religious people to get close to Jesus. In both stories, the people with titles and proximity missed the moment entirely. The women, carrying whatever weight others had placed on them, did not.

What Brian drew out of those stories is that Jesus never once used the label the room was using. He addressed the woman in Luke 7 simply as a woman, and he publicly honored what she had done. The Pharisee in the room was confused about who she was and confused about who Jesus was. She, without any title or clean reputation, had clarity, and Brian traced that clarity directly to the intimacy between her and Jesus. She did not wait for a safer moment or a more private setting. She acted in front of everyone. That kind of vulnerability, Brian taught, is not a liability. It is exactly what intimacy is built on.

The question Brian put to the room lands directly on anyone who feels like damaged goods: Brian says, "If he already knows and he still wants to hang out with you, what does that say about him?" The teaching at Tribe is that Jesus already knows the full picture and is not deterred by it. Whatever complexity or history a person carries, the promise attached to it is access to Jesus himself, and closeness to him is where clarity comes from.

Taught from Luke 7:36-50 · Mark 14:1-9 · James 4:8 · John 14:15