JEREMIAH 30: 12-17

Two families, friends of one another, lived in an apartment complex. A great sadness descended upon one of the families. The family lost their son to an automobile accident. To warn her five-year old daughter and to keep her from making any mistakes that might exacerbate the grieving family’s sadness, the mother of the other family told her daughter, "dear, do not bother our neighbors; they have been hurt very deeply." This child, one day, rang the doorbell of her neighbors, the grieving family. When the lady of the household answered the bell, the little girl held up a band-aid and said, "My mom told me that you had been hurt. Put this on. Your wound will heal." To this naïve and innocent girl, the lady, after receiving the band-aid, replied, "Okay, thank you very much. I will put this band-aid over my boo-boo and make it go away."

The cuts and bruises on our bodies can be healed through medicine, proper care, and time. However, the pain and hurt of the heart afflict us for a long period of time. Not everything goes our way or follows our wishes during the course of our lives. Life itself is a process of feeling pain and getting hurt often contrary to our wishes or plans. An ad in the newspaper read thus: "Lost dog. Black and white. One ear half chewed-off in a fight. Limps due to both back legs being broken when hit by a car. Has mange. Blind in one eye. Answers to the name of Lucky." Our lives may sometimes be very similar to that of this dog called Lucky in a newspaper ad. Sometimes, some incurable disease, like cancer, may ambush us out of nowhere; sometimes, tragedy such as divorce may send violent ripples through our tranquil and peaceful homes. We may receive notice of sudden layoff unexpectedly; or, our businesses may teeter on a verge of failure. Pain and suffering and resultant scar are like unavoidable fate during the course of our lives.

Jeremiah, the main character of today’s scripture, was a prophet during the most perilous period in the annals of Israeli people. Some people even liken Jeremiah to a roller coaster the one who cannot control its speed and direction of travel along a steep incline and decline as it travels. Jeremiah prophesied for the people of Israel who faced certain pain and danger for 40 years, from 626 BC to 584 BC. He is often called "prophet of tear" or "lonesome prophet." Jeremiah proclaimed that despite God’s effort to send countless prophets to the people of Israel, the fact that they became despicable people ones who not only refused to listen to the prophets, but also murdered them and participated in acts of pagan worship brought on God’s judgment. This inevitable judgment, Jeremiah claimed, was approaching them like a tidal wave. The judgment, as prophesied, will be realized in the form of Babylonian invasion, which will lay most of Israel’s land to ruins and imprison many of the leaders of Israel under Babylonian captivity.

Against this juxtaposition of events, Jeremiah 30: 12-17 prophesies the irresistible judgment of God and the certain hurt and suffering on the part of the people of Israel. Verses 12 and 13 states, "For thus says the Lord, "Your affliction is incurable, your wound is severe. There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up; you have no healing medicines." Verse 15 states, "Why do you cry about your afflictions? Your sorrow is incurable. Because of the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you." These verses vividly illustrate the looming and unavoidable tragedy that awaits the people of Israel, in the form of Babylonian invasion.

Using today’s scripture as a basis, this morning, we will think about the wounds that we, as humans, receive during the course of our lives. First, because of the sins and iniquities of humans, there are no ways to avoid the pain and hurt. In Genesis, chapter 3, mankind is punished as a result of the sins that Adam and Eve commit in Eden. Due to Eve’s sins, all women, whilst they enjoy the blessings of childbirth, must suffer through insufferable pain in the process (Genesis 3: 16). Because of Adam’s iniquities, all men must labor in the soil to receive nothing without a price to earn the fruits that the soils bear (Genesis 3: 17-18). Because of the sins committed by our ancestors, Adam and Eve, the fact that humans suffer through pain and hurt has become an accepted and normalized reality.

After Adam and Eve, God has blessed us with a double-edged sword when bestowing and allowing things for us. While He gave us fire, He also gave us the danger associated with conflagration; while He gave us water, He also gave us the danger of drowning; and while He gave man the ability to assemble automobiles, He also gave the possibility of automobile accidents. When we are afflicted, in great pain and suffering, we must realize the fact that we suffer because of the sins of our ancestors,

Adam and Eve, as well as the acts of transgression committed by ourselves. As today’s scripture delineates, the incurable sufferings and hurt, felt by the people of Israel, were brought on by their own sins and transgressions. As the chosen people of God, they betrayed Him by descending upon the deplorable path of pagan god worship and countless acts of sins and transgressions; therefore, the suffering, pain, and hurt are the price levied upon the chosen people of Israel by God. This world, of course, is also wrought with accidental pains, having to do nothing with our actions. There also is pain without reason or purpose, similar to those that afflicted Job in the Old Testament. But we must remember the fundamental fact that our pain and suffering are results of the sins and transgressions that our ancestors as well as acts of transgressions that we, ourselves have committed in the past.

Second, we must understand that the whole mankind not just ourselves individually suffer through pain and hurt. When we are afflicted with incurable pain and wound, we often think that we are the only people stricken with such misfortunes. According to a Buddhist anecdote, a mother, who just lost her son a son who she doted on and held precious above everything else in this world paid a visit to Buddha. This woman, who bore a deep scar in her heart, asked Buddha whether there was any consolation for her anywhere. Without addressing the pain and hurt of the woman, Buddha instructed her, "visit each one of the households in the entire neighborhood. If there is a household without any sadness, suffering, or hurt, collect a pint of rice from that household; when you complete your search, bring the collected rice here."

The woman did as she was told, looking for a household that did not experience or suffer through any pain and hurt; however, she could not find even one. To the woman, who searched the entire neighborhood but came back empty-handed, Buddha replied, "It is true. You are suffering through but one of countless pain and suffering that people experience each day" teaching her that pain and hurt of humans are universal in nature, afflicting all, indiscriminately.

I remember a news clip from a Korean-language broadcast on cable TV that aired few days ago. A young man, riding in an ambulance with his aged mother, who was about to pass away, died when the ambulance got involved in an accident. This mother, who became unconscious and hospitalized after the accident, did not even know whether her son lived or died after the accident. The faithful son, who wanted to keep his mother’s side when she breathed her last breath, tragically ended up leaving this world before she did. If we look around us carefully, we can see that there are people who suffer through even greater pain and suffering than we do. Entire families have been lost in a plane crash. Mothers and daughters lost their lives when Sampoong Department Store in Korea collapsed. As such, counting the number of people suffering through tragedies is a truly futile endeavor a task that has no end.

It is truly a surprising discovery the fact that all people of this world, not just myself, suffer through pain and hurt. Even those who look happy and content have pain and hurt somewhere underneath their tranquil and joyous exterior. No one is 100% content and happy. There is no reason for us to deny or to attempt to escape from our pain and hurt. Rather, accept our reality at face value, and accept our pain and hurt like an old friend. True healing and cure cannot take place when we ask, "why is this pain and hurt striking me down?" and try to ignore or deny the reality. If we accept the reality of pain and hurt by saying, "I am suffering only a small portion of what all people of this world are afflicted with each day," time will take care of everything.

Jesus Christ is a representative example of someone who quietly received all pain and hurt levied on Him. He even befriended His hurt and pain. Jesus did not save the world in a comfort, bereft of pain or tears; rather, He saved mankind while in absolute pain, in the midst of insufferable. Therefore, in Isaiah 53: 5, it is stated, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." Because Jesus befriended pain and hurt, and passed through the gates of torture, He was able to heal and cure all our pains and wounds. Like Jesus, all of us should quietly stroke our pain and hurt, which may be difficult to divulge to others. When our pain and hurt gets linked to universal pain on its way to the Sufferings of Christ, an amazing work of healing and cure will take place.

Third, we need the faith that God will bandage our wounds and heal our scars. The word of God, as prophesied through the prophet Jeremiah, was one of utter despair a ‘sky is falling’ type of message with no seeming hint of hope. After stating that they will be afflicted with incurable wounds that could not be bandaged, God promises the people of Israel in verse 17 that "I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds."

 This is the paradoxical nature of our God, in whom we trust. In His anger, He seems as if He is ready to wipe us off the face of the earth; yet, He always comes back to promise life and salvation to us. Just as Jeremiah prophesied, the people of Israel, upon receiving deep and incurable wounds at the hands of Babylon, eventually ends their life of captivity and returns to Jerusalem, where they re-erect collapsed castle walls and resurrect the temple. History of Israel is a testament to the great love of God that bandaged and cured the hurt and wounds of the people of Israel.

In a periodical called Christianity Today published last year, Philip Yancey makes the following confessions about his father in law. He says that his father-in-law had been a life-long Bible teacher, a man of deep faith, a solid Calvinist…that is, until the final years of his life. A few years before he died, he was stricken with a neurological disease that made him bedridden and unable to do most things that he enjoyed. On top of that, his thirty-nine year old daughter came down with a rare form of diabetes that was ravaging her life.

 Then, on top of that, financial pressures came crushing down to the point that one Christmas it all seemed to come to a head. His father-in-law sent out a letter to the family saying, "Over the years I have taught the Bible and I have clung to all kinds of beliefs, and now I find my faith shattered and shaken to the point where there are only three things that I know with any certainty anymore." Then he listed them: The first, life is difficult; the second, God is merciful; and the third, Heaven is a sure thing.

Like Philip Yancey’s father-in-law stated, life is difficult. But no matter how trying and difficult life may be, God is still merciful and there is always a hope for Heaven. Famous orator Charles Spurgeon was out for a walk in the country one afternoon. He came upon a farmer’s barn with a weathervane on the roof, and saw the words at the top of the weathervane, "God is love." Just then, the farmer came out, and Spurgeon asked him, "Do you mean to say that God’s love is as changing as the weather?" The farmer smiled and said, "Not at all. I mean to say that no matter where the winds blow, God is love." That is correct.

No matter where the wind blows, God still is love and God still caresses our wounds. For those of us with children, we know that we tend to feel greater anxiety and even greater love when our children are in pain or suffering. Likewise, when we are in pain, God shares in the pain; when we are hurting, God hurts with us; when our hearts are wounded, God gets wounded with us. Leave all your wounds to God this morning. God will caress our wounds, bandage it, and treat it. No matter where the wind blows, God will always be with you. Amen.