If you don’t know this about me, I have a brain injury from an accident I was in as a child. I was struck in the head in a car accident that resulted in a slashing wound across my forehead and brain damage from the force of the blow. It’s left me with enduring difficulties that can make simple daily life and its tasks a challenge sometimes. On bad days, it can be hard to function normally and I often need to take extended times to rest and recover.
That was the case the other day. I was having a bad brain health day and was at home, starting all my routines to take care of myself. I was disoriented and frustrated and sad. One of the things that can make the brain injury difficult to live with is how isolating it can be. It’s an invisible injury and it can be hard to explain to others. That can be a very lonely thing.
So as I was recovering, I was also feeling immensely grateful for the company of the Holy Spirit. As lonely as I was, feeling so poorly, I wasn’t alone. I have said this before, but one of the greatest secondary gifts of God’s plan to send Jesus is that he came to us. Jesus could have rescued us at a distance, but he didn’t. He came and lived a fully human life and with that all the aches, pains, and heartaches. And all that means, that there’s no pain we can feel that Jesus can’t relate to in some way. He knows, and he cares.
I knew this, but as I was thinking about it, tired, worn out, and feeling low from another round of brain injury recovery, Jesus cracked his knuckles and showed me just how much he really understands. I found myself opening my Bible without thinking and reading the passage when Jesus is beaten before his crucifixion. And there was my reminder that Jesus knows what I’ve gone through more than I could ever realize.
“They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship.” (Mark 15:17-19)
His forehead was slashed open. He was struck over the head. Jesus didn’t just understand me in the aftermath of my injury. He knew what it felt like to get it.
Jesus knows what it was like to have my forehead slashed open. He knows what a devastating blow to the head feels like. He knows, because he’s felt the same. He knew pain far worse than anything I’d endured and still took the time to sit with me in mine as I read those verses and saw his love in a whole new light.
If Jesus were to stand in front of me and hold me face to face, it wouldn’t be just our foreheads touching. It would be our scars too. And I am so unworthy of matching my savior like that. My scars were from a hideous accident. His were from saving the world.
That’s what I mean when I say it’s such a gift how Jesus came to redeem the world. He cared enough to save us, but he also cared enough to know us, to sit with us, to share our burdens with strength that holds us up in our darkest days and deepest hurts.
The scars in Jesus’ hands and feet are evidence that I am loved and redeemed. The scars on his forehead are evidence that I am not alone.
Christian, our savior is one who cares deeply about your wounds, whatever they may be in life. It was his ultimate multitask. God sent his son to save the world, but his son also spent time with his creation face to face, in daily life and relationship. Something he’d longed for since the garden. The resulting gift is our salvation, but also a relationship that is dripping with empathy and understanding and love.
Whatever loneliness you face in the things that pain you, you are still not fully alone in them. Jesus saw to that. He will not let you face pain alone if you give it to him. He has the scars to prove it. We might just take him at his word.
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”(Matthew 11:28-30)
Let’s find some joy,
A
