Jesus is never afraid to confront pain and woundedness. Jesus does not hide his wounds but his disciples did by hiding, isolating themselves and running away. We all deal with our pain and woundedness in different ways.
Jesus shares his wounds, but do we? Most times we feel embarrassed or awkward and we keep our pain to ourselves. It is strange that sometimes two people are going through the same pain at the same time and yet the other does not know! We have it in our heads or are led by social convention that pain and wounds are a sign of weakness. Not so for Jesus who shares
his pain. He is not afraid to say look here, look what has happened to me.
Perhaps if we take the example of Jesus and share our pain and our wounds, we in turn can help others to deal with their pain. By helping ourselves, we can show those struggling around us that we can turn our pain and wounds around, that we can learn from those things that are or seem so bad in our lives.
Jesus endured excruciating physical and emotional pain and suffering and death and yet, he remained gracious and kind and used his experience as a lesson to us all. Jesus told us that we would experience pain and suffering but assured us, through his death and resurrection, that we would overcome these hardships, that they would not be without purpose. And so, we
should not be afraid to confront our own pain and the pain of others.
Perhaps today consider if and how you face your pain. How does Jesus meet you in these hardships? How do you meet others in their struggles and dealing with their own hardships?
