“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
When your faith is in Jesus, there is no wasted pain. What wounds you has the power to heal others. This is one of the most prolific principles connected to the Passion of Christ. God gives us ministry through miseries. Stripes are signs of strength. In the very place where Jesus endured great pain is the very place where Jesus was anointed to bring healing and restoration.
The Jesuit mystic, Henri Nouwen calls Jesus, “The Wounded Healer”. This flies in the face of “hurt people hurt people”. Hurt people can also heal people. The afflicted don’t have to inflict. Jesus brings ministry into focus with being wounded, bruised, and whipped. We cannot be authentic in our presentation of Christ without wounds, bruises and stripes. Those who have a desire to be used in the healing of souls and the redemption of the world will have to be “suffering servants”.
We cannot heal souls or redeem the world on the cheap, on the fly or on the run. Transgressions become destructive addictions. Iniquities become generational curses. There is a price, a cost, a sacrifice that is part and parcel with bringing people to the saving work of The Cross. The Cross in stark truth and in high definition history reveals that the healing of souls requires the bleeding of the One who wishes to be a blessing.
When you are feeling wounded, bruised and whipped by life and circumstances that is exactly when you are being enabled and empowered to be a soul healer. Soul healers can still feel. Soul healers are not closed and protective. Soul healers are open to love and the pain that may come with it. All of our hurts will help us better minister with and for the Christ who healed us with His hurts.
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