“Care For Bruised Souls”
Isaiah 42:1-9
1-8-2023
In the name of Him Who gently cares for bruised souls, dear friends in Christ. We live in a pretty rough and tumble world, don’t we? Oh, I know that on the outside we make everything look nicety-nice. But when it comes to people’s feelings and emotions this is a “dog eat dog” world. Sad to say, it’s perfectly acceptable to stomp all over somebody’s heart and walk away justified in doing so, especially if the other person wronged you in the first place. Not only are you justified in your retaliation but you can run over their emotions like a semi-truck, over and over again.
I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced that but I sure have. For example, I may have carelessly hurt someone’s feelings and when I realized it, I felt terrible. But even after I apologized that wasn’t good enough. According to the world’s rules, since I admitted my guilt, my heart and my feelings were fair game to be squashed like a slow possum crossing the highway. Dummies like that deserve to get their feelings run over, don’t they? Actually, no. But I also have to admit that sometimes I’m the one behind the steering wheel doing the damage. That’s what our world teaches us and that’s how we’ve learned to function.
But that’s not the way God operates, and we can all be thankful for that! In fact, Isaiah tells us in the Old Testament Lesson that God is just the opposite. Instead of kicking a guy when he’s down, Isaiah says that God brings healing. And rather than snuffing out souls which deserve destruction, God sends a Savior for them. Listen how he described the coming Christ in verse 3: “A bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench...” Folks, Jesus is the “He” in this sentence. And you and I are the “bruised reed” and “faintly burning wick” mentioned in those verses.
So, let’s examine that word-picture for just a minute. How are we like a bruised reed? Well, a reed is plant that has a thin stalk which is easily bent over. It isn’t strong enough to support much weight. If it’s bent far enough, that stalk will be damaged inside. And once it’s kinked over, it becomes weak and vulnerable. If it isn’t handled carefully, it’ll break in half and be destroyed. But if you wanted to save that injured reed, you have to gently straighten it and give it support. Sin has the same detrimental effect on us. No matter how strong we may think we are, in reality, we are just fragile reeds. We are bruised and hurt inside because of sin, both from our own sins and the sins of others which inflict pain on our lives. And there’s also the pain of just living in this decaying world. As a result, we are like that bruised reed, bent over and ready to break.
Likewise, with the “faintly burning wick.” When the flame goes out, a wick will continue to smolder slowly. But it will waste away by this slow combustion. A smoldering wick is no good to anyone. It doesn’t provide light. All it does is stink things up with smoke. Just a little pinch to that smoldering wick will put it out for good. Because of sin, we too were wasting away spiritually. We weren’t good for anything. There was no light coming from our souls. It would seem that the best thing to do would be to just extinguish us, snuff us out.
That smoldering wick and bruised reed are good descriptions of us once the sinful, fallen world gets done with us. Bad people inflict pain and violence upon our lives. Sickness, injuries, and death bruise our souls and threaten to snuff out our hope. That’s what life in this evil world does to us. But to be honest, quite often we bring pain upon ourselves. We are bent over and bruised under the weight of sin because we choose to be loaded down with it. The flame of faith in our souls is smoldering because we invited the devil and our fallen world to douse it with the guilt of sin and unbelief. God had every right in the world to just be done with us. He could have easily broken us off the rest of the way and snuffed us out.
But He didn’t. Instead, He sent His Son to be our gentle healer. Just look at the many examples of this in the 4 Gospels. Do you remember the woman who had been caught in adultery? When the Pharisees brought her to Jesus, she was a broken woman. The hypocritical, religious leaders were more than ready to stomp on her emotions and even snuff out her life. But what did Jesus do? Did He crush her with words of condemnation? No. He forgave her sins and told her to go and live a new life for God. He removed the weight of her sins and gently supported her with His love.
What about the thief that hung on the cross beside Jesus. If ever there was a smoldering wick which was about to be snuffed out, he was it. This man had lived a life opposed to the laws of God and man. And he was paying the price for it. Quite literally, his life was about to be extinguished. But something changed. The Holy Spirit worked mightily in his heart during the last minutes of his life. When he turned to Jesus and asked to be saved, Christ didn’t reject him. No, Jesus assured him that his sins were forgiven by telling him that he would be in heaven with Him that very day. Although the physical wick of his life was smoldering and going out the light in his soul was being fanned into a bright flame of faith.
We need to pause, though, and add a word of caution. It’s true that Jesus will never turn away a bruised soul or snuff out a smoldering one either. But these are souls which have recognized their sins and repented of them. On the other hand, for those who have resisted Christ’s healing forgiveness, there is no such promise. Scripture tells us that Christ will separate them from the redeemed believers on Judgment Day. Then, the unbelievers will be thrown into the unquenchable fire of hell. That’s not what God wants. He wants every soul to be healed by the forgiveness which Christ brings. But sadly, some people will stubbornly refuse to hear those words of love and they will bring destruction upon their own heads.
We certainly need to be honest about what lies ahead for those who reject Jesus. But once a person recognizes their bruised and broken condition, we can tell them the good news about Christ, the gentle healer. Unfortunately, many non-Christians are convinced that God is a God of wrath. They think that He will destroy them in His anger. But we can tell them the truth that our Savior came into the world to remove the weight our sins so that we could stand before God as forgiven sinners. We can tell them how Christ daily gives us the support to resist bending when we’re tempted by sin. And we can tell them how He gently takes our smoldering faith and fans it into a flame for Him.
Jesus also has a message of hope for those who feel bent and broken by all the pain and suffering of this fallen world. You don’t have to look far to find bruised and hurting souls. Souls that have been bruised by senseless violence and disasters. Souls that have been bruised by the unexpected death of loved ones. Souls that suffer under the weight of abuse, neglect, and depression. Souls that are bent over and about to break under the stress of chronic pain in their bodies. All this pain and suffering are the result of living in a world that is deformed by sin and its awful effects. But God wants our bruised souls to know that He cares and He offers comfort and support for us. He alone can heal our brokenness.
That’s the message that Christ wants us to share with the bruised souls that are all around us. But that needs to happen in more places than just here in church. We need to carry that message out into the world. As we gather here in God’s House, I’m really just preaching to the choir. Sad to say, some of those bruised souls will never come into a church to hear God’s words of healing... unless you invite them. You will need to take that message to them personally. Other people are hurting so deeply in their souls that you and I will need to be the arms of Jesus as we embrace them in their pain and grief. We can be the lips of Christ, reminding them of God’s love and care for their bruised soul. Here too, we can gently take them by the hand and encourage them to come to God’s House for His healing medicine for our souls in Word and Sacrament.
In order to do all that, we have to be ready at all times to share the healing good news with them. That’s part of the reason why we gather here for worship and Bible Study. Yes, your soul needs to hear the Gospel over and over again. But our preaching and teaching is also meant to equip and inspire you to tell others about our gentle, healing Lord. It’s as simple as telling them about the healing you yourself have received for your bruised and battered soul. Jesus says in Matthew 11, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” In a world that’s full of bruised and broken souls, that’s the best news we could ever possibly share. So by the power of Jesus who lives in you, go out and boldly share that message of Christ’s healing love with the hurting souls around you. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!