Here is my Servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom I delight… He will not break a bruised reed, or quench a dimly burning wick. (Isaiah 42:1-3)

We live in a “throw-away” society. If something breaks, we tend to throw it away rather than fix it. Buying a new item is much easier than spending the time and effort it takes to repair damaged goods.  Even if we decide to repair it, we soon discover that the cost of repairing it is more than it would cost to buy a new one. So frivolous have we become that we even sometimes do away with things that are slightly damaged or outdated or not in style anymore.  Why repair if you can just buy a new one? No wonder our landfills are overflowing.

Henry Nouwen once wrote:

Often we also treat people this way. We say, “Well, he has a problem with drinking; well, she is quite depressed; well, they have mismanaged their business… we’d better not take the risk of getting involved with them.” When we dismiss people out of hand because of their apparent woundedness, we stunt their lives by ignoring their gifts, which are often buried in their wounds.

Often even the church also treats people in this way. It is supposed to be a hospital for sinners, a community of forgiven and forgiving sinners. A place where all are welcomed who enter through the doors of the sanctuary – no matter your status, level of education, or so-called respectability. So often the church seems all too willing to invite in and reach out to those who seem to have it all figured out, whose lives seem to be in order, but is hesitant to reach out and get involved with people because of their apparent woundedness. You know, the “difficult” person, the “troublemaker,” the emotionally “needy” person, the socially “awkward” person, the “demanding” person, the “high maintenance” person, the “lonely” person, the “self destructive” person, – the list goes on and on and on.

In the Gospels we read that Jesus spent a lot of time reaching out, ministering, showing compassion, and sharing a meal with outcasts, the undesirables. We are told that he often ate with tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes, those whose social status many frowned upon – the wounded people. When once asked why he did this, Jesus answered: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Luke 5:31). Here is my Servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom I delight… He will not break a bruised reed, or quench a dimly burning wick. (Isaiah 42:1-3)

The truth is that we are all wounded, we are all bruised reeds. The truth is that the church is a hospital for sinners. The truth is that the church is called (and we are called) to reach out in compassion to all who we find on our doorsteps.

We are all bruised reeds, whether our bruises are visible or not.  The compassionate life is the life in which we believe that strength is hidden in weakness and that true community is a fellowship of the weak. (Henry Nouwen)

How many times do we walk wide circles around people we consider “damaged goods”? How many times have people turned from you when your woundedness was exposed?

In those times, remember the prophet Isaiah’s words of assurance: He will not break a bruised reed, or quench a dimly burning wick.

Kobie

This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 9:11 pm and is filed under Bread for the Journey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.