Q&R: “Not Broken”? Depends – Bradley Jersak

Question from a Reader:

“I’ve been hearing and seeing the phrase, ‘You’re not broken’ a lot these days. I need help with that one because I know my issues and I read the headlines. If 2025 showed us anything, it’s that the world is very broken. Our systems are corrupt and I see individuals everywhere who feel anxious and act cruel. So how can anyone say to humanity, ‘You’re not broken?’ Aren’t they just saying, ‘You don’t need a Savior’? Or are they trying to communicate something I’m not seeing?

Response:

First, given your observations of the world, that’s a fair question. “You’re not broken” can sound pretty naive—a denial of reality, a failure to hear the lament of suffering children, a blind eye to wickedness run amok. Imagine telling the victim of violence that neither they nor their oppressor is broken. As someone in and into recovery, I’d have to say, “Speak for yourself.”

Jesus sort of did when he said,

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

I think Jesus was saying there are two kinds of people: Those who know their need for divine mercy, and those who don’t. And Jesus is only of practical help to the former.

Second, I think it’s worth starting with curiosity. Let’s assume the “You’re not broken” people are well aware that the world is in chaos and that people are suffering miserably. Let’s imagine they are intimately connected with their own affliction and in helping the afflictions of others. In that case, the Prayer of St. Francis offers these helpful lines,

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek…
to be understood as to understand.

What I wouldn’t mean

I can’t speak for what others mean or don’t mean by the expression, and I don’t tend to use it myself. On any given opinion, you’ll hear a range of views from careful thought to brain rot. But I think a charitable interpretation would start with what the phrase can’t mean to me personally.

  • It can’t mean that the world and everyone in it is just fine.
  • It can’t mean that I’ve arrived and in no need of help, mercy, or forgiveness.
  • It can’t mean that there’s no such thing as sin.
  • And therefore, it cannot mean humankind is in no need of a Savior.

If the original Christmas story meant anything, it was that “Christ the Savior is born” who would reveal God’s good will toward humankind and establish a kingdom of peace on earth. Mary rejoices in God her… Savior—even if I would not think of Mary as broken. Mary is not portrayed as ‘broken’ in the Christmas narrative (though she does describe herself as ‘one of low degree’ being lifted up).

What I would mean

Again, I don’t presume to put words in others’ mouths, but in the spirit of perceiving what is intended, I believe they are attempting to address a different malady—a wound that needs healing. Or at least I would be. Namely, I would love to restore those who feel:

  • humanity is rotten to the core, fundamental depraved,
  • God’s primary orientation toward them is disgust and enmity,
  • hated, cursed, and condemned by God from the womb, fit for the pit.

I have seen those deeply held convictions in both religious fundamentalists and in those who’ve never darkened the door of a church. Self-loathing precedes bad theology, but is quite willing to latch onto it. Either way, I would want those folks to know that their truest self, the core of their being, is:

  • a deeply loved child of God, without exception,
  • created very good (Genesis 1), ‘crowned with glory and honor’ (Psalm 8),
  • worthy of healing and restoration.

I don’t know if the “You’re not broken” crowd would all agree with the final statement. Some might say, “There’s nothing to restore. Move on.” That would just be dismissive. Gratefully, that advice would be sufficiently self-defeating that the recipient would indeed likely move on, looking for the help they need elsewhere.

But I think most who say “You’re not broken” (the ones I know, anyway) are actually trying to address an area of brokenness—desiring to heal a wound with the truth of our belovedness. The same truth Jesus brought.

My own approach

In the end, my own approach is different. I don’t use the “You’re not broken” slogan, but can honor the motives of those who do. For my part, here’s the approach I prefer, in point form, then back to family Christmas!

  • I do not tell people they are broken. They know they are. And they tell me about their brokenness.
  • I do not tell people they aren’t broken. They need someone to hear and to validate their deep sense of brokenness.
  • I tell people the truth that they are beloved children of God—not loathsome to God or to me.
  • I tell people God accepts them as they are, even in their brokenness, and so do I.
  • I tell people that God’s heart is to restore them to wholeness (that’s what a Savior does), and we talk about what path or program of recovery might be best for them.

I read a version of this recently that went like this:

“You’re not worthless. You’re precious.
Christ never discards what is precious.
But you are wounded.
And Christ came to heal our wounds.

I hope that despite our different approaches, we all do our best to understand the healing intentions of others. And I hope that we also examine the fruit of various healing modalities, including our own, looking for effective ways to participate in the healing of others and ourselves.

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