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1.   Wounded People

Everyone has wounds. One person was wounded when he learned that he was adopted. He could not forgive his birth mother for rejecting him. He could have been thankful to his adoptive parents for welcoming him. Sometimes wounds are too deep. They cannot be healed by reasonable thinking or by a changed situation. Only God can heal. Some people are wounded by broken families; some by rejection; some wounds are the result of betrayal. Some are wounded by broken relationships. Some young people are wounded when they don’t get into the college of their choice. Some children become wounded because they are targets of bullying. It happens in school, it can even happen in CBF. Sometimes parents unintentionally wound their children; and children wound their parents. Fear wounds people. Wounded people who are not healed wound others.

When I was in elementary school, I was fat and slow. So faster girls would run off and leave me behind, and tease me. I covered up my wounds by becoming a bully. I even beat up one girl in 5th grade. Wounded people wound other people. But God also works through wounded people who are healed to heal others

When I went to Korea in 1955, Korea was a wounded country. UBF began through student Bible study and prayer in 1961. It was a time when young people were wounded by a war that left their country broken and divided. Poverty and sickness wounded many people. But young students were open to God’s word and to the healing message of the gospel. God worked through his word and through his Spirit to heal wounds and change lives. He changed a beggar’s mentality into a giving spirit. He replaced despair and fatalism with hope and vision. In 1964, in obedience to Jesus’ world mission command, we sent our first UBF missionary to ChejuDo. I returned to America for my second furlough in 1965.

On this second furlough, I decided to study for a Master’s degree in Education.--Maybe continue for a Phd.  So I went to graduate school in Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. Satan attacked me in America and tried to plant fear in my heart. Fear wounds people. Hebrews 2:14 says that Satan makes people his slaves through their fear of death. I had been in Nashville for three days. Sunday night I went to church. I had a car, so I stopped by a hotel to pick up another missionary.  As I walked through the hotel parking lot, a man jumped me from behind and tried to rape me. I screamed and fought, so he beat me in the face to make me shut up. (I remembered a verse in Deuteronomy which says that in such circumstances a woman should scream) So I yelled even louder. A passerby heard me and called the police and the attacker ran away. Later they caught him and found my car key in his pocket. The district attorney wanted me to drop the charges because the attacker had connections with some important person in the city government. But I did not drop the charges, so he was convicted and went to prison. I visited him in jail with his mother. He apologized. He had become a Christian in prison. Through that event, I accepted Romans 8:28, “all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”  My face was a mess. My eye socket, cheekbones, nose, and jaw were broken. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks, then went back to the dorm. Plastic surgery fixed my face, but this did not solve my fear problem. I cancelled my night classes. I was afraid to go outside of my dorm in the evening. I realized that living by fear is not living by faith. I repented and came to God the healer. He healed me. God helped me overcome my fear, finish my master’s degree, return to Korea, and join in pioneering Taejon and Seoul. The Lord Almighty is God who heals. 

2. God who heals

In Exodus chapter 15, through Moses, God healed the bitter water, making it fit to drink. Then God said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees,” "I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” God is the healer. 1 Peter 2:24 quotes Isaiah’s prophecy about Jesus:  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”   

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

During Jesus’ ministry in his lifetime, Jesus healed the blind, made the mute speak, healed the lepers, and made the lame walk. He cast out demons. People came from everywhere to feel his healing touch. Our deepest wounds, however, come from sin. Sin separates us from God. Sin separates us from people. The wages of sin is death. God loved the world and sent his Son to die for us. By his wounds on the cross we are forgiven and healed.

In the Old Testament, the priests offered animal sacrifices to atone for sin. These point to Jesus on the cross, the Lamb of God, slain for the sins of the world. The risen Jesus our High Priest entered the throne room of God. He sacrificed his own blood and sat down at the right hand of God to intercede for us. Hebrews 9:14 says, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

In his death, he cleansed us from sin and healed our inner wounds. Henri Nouwen wrote a book entitled, “The Wounded Healer.” Jesus is the wounded healer who heals our broken relationship with God and with people. Isaiah prophesied about him. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” He was rejected, beaten, and flogged on the way to the cross. He was nailed to the cross between two criminals. Many people who are wounded try to defend themselves by seeing themselves as victims. Jesus was the ultimate victim but he did not have a victim mentality.  He prayed for his enemies and died for them. A large number of women of Jerusalem followed him on the way to the cross, moaning and wailing. Jesus said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children (Luke 23:28).” The passers-by and soldiers mocked him, saying, “if you are the king of the Jews, come down from the cross.” One of the criminals said, “Save yourself and us.” The other one said, “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Jesus did not save himself. He died to save us. He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

The cross of Jesus brings us healing. Most of all, we are wounded by sin. When we come to Jesus as we are, with our wounds and all of our sins, He forgives us; he shed blood purifies our inner lives; he sets us free from the power of sin and death. Because we are forgiven we can forgive. God can work through our wounds to bring his healing to other wounded people. “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

The Psalmist writes of the Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, (Psalm 147:2-4) The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. We have been forgiven and healed by the Wounded Healer Jesus; may we be used by God as wounded healers, to bring the healing word of the gospel to wounded people our time.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for   righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)