Ever had a really painful knot in your muscles?
Muscle knots can be caused by all sorts of things like overuse, strain or trauma. When a muscle is overworked or injured then it tightens up. This causes the surrounding muscles to stiffen around the damaged muscle in an attempt to protect it from further injury resulting in a big ole knot of pain. The whole area can feel sensitive, inflamed and generally pretty grim.
Sometimes, you might have a knot so painful that the only way to get rid of it is a full-on, teeth-gritting, fist-clenching ‘massage’ where those trigger points are heated up and pressed into submission, and boy does that hurt!
Sometimes, things have to get worse before they can get better. But when they do, healing occurs and freedom of movement returns to your muscles.
Sadly, and far too frequently, I cause big knots of tension in relationships around me. A word spoken harshly, a selfish action, miscommunication… there are many ways that strain or brokenness and injury within me (aka sin) causes a mess of knots in my life and in the lives of people around me. Cue tension, sensitivity, and pain.
So where does the pressure need to be applied?
What’s the cure for the knots my brokenness has caused?
Good Friday.
“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5 NIV)
By his wounds we are healed.
The knots caused by our sin weren’t compressed and pressured into submission in our lives. Jesus was crushed for us. He endured suffering, affliction, punishment and wounds, for us. To bring us peace from the pain, healing from the tension, and potential for a life fully free.
In the midst of our tangled mess and the knots of brokenness we create, Good Friday stands as a beacon of hope. It is a reminder that there is a remedy for our pain and a solution for the tangled webs of sin we find ourselves in. Through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, the ultimate act of love and redemption, we are offered a path towards healing and restoration.
When we embrace the significance of the cross, we acknowledge that our brokenness and the knots of sin within us are not too great for God's grace to overcome. It is through the wounds of Jesus that our wounds find healing, our pain finds solace, and our lives find true transformation. The power of forgiveness and redemption flows freely from the cross, untangling the mess we've made and setting us free from the burdens that entangle us.
Let's not despair in the face of our knotted and tangled pressure points. Instead, let us surrender them to the one who willingly bore the weight of our transgressions. Jesus offers hope, healing, and the promise of a life restored.