David Bahn – Reflections

Matthew 1:21

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Most often our hearts go out to those who have been victimized by others. A victim of a crime, one who has been infected with the H1N1 virus, or some other visitation of affliction through no fault of his or her own moves our hearts. We find compassion for such people easily; they tug at our heartstrings.

But when someone inflicts a wound upon himself, that’s another story. Drug users, people who have been irresponsible with their own money, or those who by their own behavior have caused themselves pain and suffering don’t generally cause our hearts to move with compassion. We are more likely to say that they deserve all the difficulty and pain they have visited upon themselves. “You’ve made your bed, now lie in it,” we say.

Thank God He didn’t do that! When Joseph was told of Jesus’ coming, he was also told that he would be named “Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” This is remarkable! Jesus is not a Savior who comes to the rescue of those who through no fault of their own have been victimized by an enemy. He is the Savior of those who have hurt themselves; for those who have self-inflicted wounds.

Perhaps we need to recalibrate our compassion meters. Surely we need to recognize the extreme mercy and compassion of God: He is moved to rescue and redeem us from the messes was have made on our own initiative. While we may rightly assess others’ difficulty as self-inflicted in many cases; we cannot honestly say we have not done the same to ourselves. Whenever we try to live life apart from God, or choose a path other than His ways, or fail to do the good thing He calls us to, we inflict upon ourselves a wound that only He can heal. Thank God that He sent Jesus to make things right – to save us from our sins – the worst kind of self-inflicted wound of all!