Tell Me What Hurts You

This is an entry in a Brennan Manning devotional that I have been thinking about lately.

An old Hasidic Rabbi, Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev in the Ukraine, used to say that he discovered the meaning of love from a drunken peasant. The Rabbi was visiting the owner of a tavern in the Polish Countryside. As he walked in, he saw two peasants at a table. Both were gloriously in their cups. Arms around each other, they were protesting how much they loved the other. Suddenly Ivan said to Peter, "Peter, tell me what hurts me." Bleary eyed, Peter looked at Ivan. "How do I know what hurts you?" Ivan's answer was swift: "If you don't know what hurts me, how can you say you love me?"

Do you know what made Jesus so loving a person, the greatest lover in history? He knew what hurt us. He knew then and he knows now--the love and hates, hopes and fears, the joys and sadnesses of each of us. This is not pious poetry. The risen Jesus is not a vague figure in outer space. His resurrection did not remove him from us: it simply made it possible for him to touch not Naim but New Orleans, not only Magdalene but me. Christian living makes no sense unless we believe that at this moment, Jesus knows what hurts us. Not only knows but, knowing, seeks us out--whatever our kind of poverty or pain, however we weep, wherever we feel unloved.

These words make me think about how quick I am to say I love this one or that one, when in fact this may really be an affinity to another's personality, talents or benevolence. I think I have more of an affinity for people than I have a knowing love of their hurts. How false it is to say we love each other and yet never study the levels of another's hurt with any real depth or integrity. We would rather eye a brokeness and shun it or fix it with a patch of shallow religious effort, than know someone's inner battles or spiritual struggles. I guess the fear of being fixed by others is what keeps us convinced that we'll be having only Jesus privy to our pain ,thank you very much. And on many levels, I am sure this is the wisest path. This has worked for me. And what really makes me think more deeply and fearfully about these words is when someone knows what hurts you and they inflict that very pain....or remain indifferent to it. I have done this before, have you?

And finally, as I really ponder this devotional insight, I think when I tell Jesus how much I love Him, can I honestly say I know what hurts Him?