By Andrew Williams
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2).
The joy that carried Jesus through the ordeal of His betrayal, arrest, flogging, agonizing death, burial, and resurrection – was the joy of seeing you restored in the mercy, grace, and love of the Father. You were and remain His joy! So, what does that mean for us?
We have a gravitational pull toward a way of thinking that says that when we finally go to Jesus seeking His mercy, (or when we know we really need to go to Jesus for His fresh forgiveness) – we imagine that He is going to be vexed with us, “Oh no! Not you again!” When we come to Him shame-faced, head bowed, anxious and perplexed and hoping for fresh mercy; when we come to him injured and wearied, at our wit’s end – we calculate that our brokenness, our sin makes Jesus less. That we diminish what He has done for us on the Cross. We fear that the emotion we illicit from Him, when we come to Him for help and mercy, is disappointment, disapproval, dismay – that we depress Jesus in all our brokenness and folly. But this is not His heart.
Let me put it this way. (I am so grateful to Dane Ortlund for this beautiful illustration which I have taken the liberty of changing up a little). A supremely qualified, wise and compassionate doctor decides to leave his prosperous practice on the Upper East Side of New York and set up his home and his medical practice in a desperately poor inner-city NYC slum. This slum district is rife with every kind of addiction, drug and alcohol abuse, malnutrition, disease, violence, crime and grief; all the emotional, physical and spiritual pain that severe poverty brings with it.
The doctor has brilliantly diagnosed and anticipated the neighborhood’s deep needs and comes with medicine and expertise that will bring healing and wholeness to the people whose lives are being degraded by this crushing and inescapable poverty. This doctor is independently wealthy and has no need of any kind of payment. You don’t need a bank account, a credit card or health insurance plan to receive his help. He has at his disposal an inexhaustible supply of all the drugs, treatments and therapies that will be needed. There is more than enough for everyone. But, as he seeks to provide care, the people in this community want nothing to do with him or the healing he is offering. They want to take care of themselves. They want healing on their own terms.
Finally, in the middle of the night, there is a knock on his door – and a group of three brave men ask the doctor to help them. They put themselves under his expert care and they are healed. Their lives are turned around. What does this doctor feel? If you were him, what would you feel as you see the summit of your loving purpose fulfilled. I believe you would feel overjoyed! You would be elated, euphoric, jubilant, deliriously happy, on cloud nine, over the moon, tickled pink!
The word spreads and soon great numbers show up seeking the healing that this doctor has come to freely give. And as this takes place – the doctor’s joy increases. Healing and transformation were the whole reason this doctor came to the neighborhood.
In the beginning was the Word. The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. The whole reason why God moved into the neighborhood of this fallen world, into our fallen hearts was to bring the limitless and inexhaustible mercy, healing, rescue and restoration that only He could supply. And if you think about it, if the doctor in our illustration was joyful to see his neighbors in the community healed – how much more joy does Jesus feel when His children come to Him for healing.
And that’s the whole point. It’s you He came to heal. Jesus lives for this. This is what He loves to do for you. He lives for the joy of seeing the children He loves, restored, healed and forgiven.
In His great love,
+ Drew.
The Rt. Rev. Andrew Williams, Bishop of New England is bishop for the Anglican Diocese of New England.
He previously served as the minister at Trinity Church.
Learn more at https://adne.org/watchwords.
