{"id":3632,"date":"2024-05-07T08:34:56","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T12:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=3632"},"modified":"2024-05-07T08:34:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T12:34:56","slug":"wounded-healers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/07\/wounded-healers\/","title":{"rendered":"Wounded Healers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

American playwright Thornton Wilder wrote a one-act play about a miracle that doesn\u2019t take place.

The Angel That Troubled the Waters<\/em> debuted in 1928. It\u2019s based on John chapter five, where the Gospel describes Jesus\u2019 visit to the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. A host of sick people have gathered in the hope that an old folk tale will turn out to be true \u2013 that when the angel of the Lord \u201cstirs the waters,\u201d the first person into the pool will be healed.

In Wilder\u2019s play, a physician makes periodic visits to the pool. He is afflicted by depression or \u201cmelancholy.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0

One day, at last, when the angel begins to stir the waters, he\u2019s first in line.\u00a0

Then the unthinkable happens. Just as he\u2019s ready to take the plunge, the angel blocks his path. This healing moment is not for him.

How can that possibly be?\u00a0

The anguished doctor pleads, \u201cIt is no shame to boast to an Angel of what I might yet do in Love\u2019s service were I but freed from this bondage.\u201d If he can just be rid of this sickness of the soul, he could help so many people. He could change the world.\u00a0 \u00a0

But the angel doesn\u2019t flinch:

\u201cWithout your wounds, where would your power be? It is your melancholy that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men and women. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living.\u201d

Then the angel adds this powerful word:

\u201cIn Love\u2019s service, only wounded soldiers can serve.\u00a0<\/em>Physician, draw back.\u201d<\/em>

Crushed, he steps aside.\u00a0

Another man enters the pool and is healed. He rejoices.\u00a0

The healed man immediately turns and addresses the physician: \u201cPlease come with me, it is only an hour to my home. My son is lost in dark thoughts. I do not understand him, and only you have ever lifted his mood. Only an hour\u2026 There is also my daughter. Since her child died, she sits in a shadow. She will not listen to us, but she will listen to you.\u201d

The apostle Paul, of all people, did not live what recent generations of Christians came to call \u201cthe triumphant life.\u201d\u00a0

Paul suffered from an unidentified malady or limitation that was given to him as \u201ca thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan, to torment me\u201d (2 Corinthians 12:7). He pleaded with God to take it away. But God refused his request for healing. \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness\u201d (2 Corinthians 12:9).\u00a0

Paul opens the same letter to the Corinthians with these stirring words:

\u201cAll praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort\u2014we get a full measure of that, too\u201d <\/em>(2 Corinthians 1:3-5, \u201cThe Message\u201d).\u00a0

If you pursue Jesus with all your heart, hard times lie ahead.

And there is no guarantee you\u2019ll experience supernatural deliverance from the things that seem to hurt the most.

But God promises to make supernatural use<\/em> of such frailties \u2013 your own experiences of failure, betrayal, sickness, depression, falling off the wagon \u2013 in the lives of other people.

We don\u2019t have to hide our weaknesses. As Brennan Manning says in Abba\u2019s Child<\/em>, \u201cIf you conceal your wounds, they will never be illuminated \u2013 nor can they become a light for others.\u201d

In Love\u2019s service, only wounded soldiers can serve<\/em>. Without your wounds, where would your power be?

Let God use your life, broken as it is, to become the very means of healing others.\u00a0
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here American playwright Thornton Wilder wrote a one-act play about a miracle that doesn\u2019t take place. The Angel That Troubled the Waters debuted in 1928. It\u2019s based on John chapter five, where the Gospel describes Jesus\u2019 visit to the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. A host of sick people have gathered in… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[373,727,112],"class_list":["post-3632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-angels","tag-pauls-thorn","tag-suffering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3634,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3632\/revisions\/3634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}