Our Worship - His Wounds
I have known worship to bring joy to the heart of God. I have known worship to be a sweet-smelling odor in his temple. But I had not conceived of worship as healing his wounds.
It was a typical Sunday evening worship service except it brought together all the congregations of our multi-campus church. As we were worshiping I envisioned the Lord's response to our worship. I saw joy and contentment on his face. It seemed that the multiple languages and cultures were pleasing to him. Our unity, in diversity, was precious and joyful to him. But as I meditated on this scene it seemed his joy was different from pleasure, as I normally think of it. It seemed to be the pleasure of relief, a relief from discomfort. The pleasant expression on his face was the restful joy of relief from pain. Then I saw wounds, the strips on his back, healing. It seemed the wounds were healing as though I was seeing it in time-lapsed photography. Our worship was healing to his wounds.
Scriptures began to come to mind confirming a ministry of healing to His wounds through our worship. I thought about the passages in Hebrews that state "for the joy set before him" he endured the cross and apostasy opens his wounds and re-crucifies him "afresh" ( ; 6:6). The familiar Scripture in Isaiah, "by his stripes we are healed," follows the statement, "the chastisement of our peace was upon him." In seeing his wounds come together and heal, it was a visual image of "the punishment for our peace" that brought healing - physically, emotionally and relationally.
Communion followed and the minister's Devotion emphasized examining our hearts and lives for unforgiveness. I thought about the play on words that changes "remembering" to "re-membering," or putting Christ's Body together. The wounds of severed relationships stripe his back.
As the service continued with water baptism I kept thinking of his wounds and our worship. The young people, being baptized, celebrated like it was an initiation rite into some club; rather than a baptism into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Discipleship cycles through crucifixion and resurrection, something they will come to understand. The problem for many young people (as an observer) was misguided or inappropriate emotional responses - immaturity. The problem for many adults was a lack of emotional responses - apathy. At the cross some made light of it and others made nothing of it. The apathy of the soldiers is stark when after "struggling" over his clothes Matthew states, "sitting down they watched him there" ( ).
Theologians use the word "anthropomorphism" for language in the Bible that illustrates God's attributes or activities using the human form, such as "the eyes of the Lord" or "the arm of the Lord." This "anthropomorphic scene" of the wounds of Christ being healed through our worship, indicates Christ still bears wounds in his Body, something we know from his post-resurrection appearances. There is also the implication that our ingratitude, unforgiveness, unbelief and open sins, bring pain to those wounds. In contrast, our passionate praises make his "passion" for us worthwhile and bring pleasure to his heart. "He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied . . . for he shall bear their iniquities" ( ).
Perhaps our corporate praises enter into His passion for us, bringing Him the pleasure of comfort, the joy of healed relationships; and also, as in the case of the Philippian jailor and his household, our faith that embraces His gift of salvation washes His wounds.
Copyright © Michael Cooper. Used by permission.
