Isaiah 53:1-5
Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
There a popular idiom that goes, ‘hurt people hurt people’. Instinctively, we understand that statement to imply the injuries of the hurt persons are not physical, but emotional, mental or spiritual. And many of us have been accosted and attacked by those same individuals. There are few things more disconcerting than being attacked by someone for no apparent reason; only to find out they attacked you because they couldn’t deal with their own issues. It wasn’t even about you, yet you took the brunt of the attack and are left shaken by the interaction. That hurts.
But if we’re honest, some of us have been on the offending side as well. Perhaps something was said or done that touched a nerve or reopened a wound we thought was closed. And before we knew it, we lashed out at some unsuspecting victim without adequate cause or justification. They didn’t do anything wrong, but they got it nonetheless. That also hurts. So the expression, ‘hurt people hurt people’ certainly has merit. But if that is true, doesn’t it stand to reason, healed people heal people?
Isaiah prophesied and aptly described our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Beyond his physical attributes (which none of us can argue) the description of his life and death are ‘spot on’. He was despised and rejected. We did consider him stricken and smitten by God. But the most powerful definition of the life and nature of Christ is what his suffering did for us. All that suffering, humiliation, abandonment and bruising was for our benefit. Even though hurt people hurt Jesus, Jesus didn’t hurt them back. He healed them instead.
His actions are such a change in direction from our “normal” reaction to pain. We generally respond by attacking our attackers. Trading hurt for hurt; leaving two wounded individuals where there should be none. But Jesus showed us the way to eternal healing.
We often call the Church of Christ a hospital, and that’s a great description. Because, although we have a good time it’s not a daycare. We don’t come to play. It’s not hospice. We don’t come to sit around and die. It’s a hospital. We come to Jesus to be healed of those things that plague our souls. And that differentiates the healing process of Christ from every other process on earth.
He heals our soul’s diseases.
The prophecies of Isaiah set the stage for the anticipation of the Messiah. The Messiah would bring unparalleled peace, joy, fulfillment and salvation to the world. But what we’ve discovered is the Messiah is our beloved Jesus who is also our most precious friend. And it’s the influence and power of our relationship that ultimately heals us and makes us whole.
Dear Children of God, it’s God’s love that heals us, and our love that heals others. Imitating Christ is the ultimate goal. As his stripes heal us, our stripes (self control, tolerance, obedience, perseverance, etc.) heal others. Because healed people heal people.
God Bless
