Sharing the wounds

Last night we helped furnish an apartment for my new friend, Gina.  We put together a table, hauled in a bed, some chairs, a lamp, and a rocking chair so she can rock her baby girl.  We carried in clothes, a crib, and a few toys. She apologized that she had no furniture of her own, because she walked out of her home with nothing, leaving an abusive relationship to start over.

I’d never met Gina until last night, but she hugged me and asked if she could be my friend.  I hugged her back and in that embrace, I welcomed Lent.

I hugged Gina gently because she had lots of bruises.  I hugged Gina lovingly because I wanted to embrace her pain and carry it away with me.  And then I remembered Jesus.  I remembered the wounds he bore and how he embraced the stricken, the sin-stained, and the heavy-laden, making their suffering his own.

Lord, make me eager to share the wounds of others, to carry their pain close to my heart, so that together we can see you, our Savior, who bears away the sin of the world in an endless embrace of love.