A Mystery: The Binding of the Broken-Hearted

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Isaiah 61:1

People are often wrong about what will provide authentic hope and healing.

In ancient Rome, the suggested remedy for rabies was to apply raw beef and drink hog’s fat. Third-century doctors treated malaria with a paper bib featuring the magic word “Abracadabra.” Not so long ago, doctors recommended cigarettes for asthma relief.

In today’s reading, Isaiah describes Israel as an ailing nation. In sin, they refused to allow their loving Creator to guide their lives. As a result, the whole community was like a patient covered in wounds and festering sores. From the outside, foreign invaders bruised and battered their borders. On the inside, open rebellion against God and his will led to stony, broken hearts.

We share sin’s symptoms with God’s people from 3,000 years ago. We too stumble through this world covered with spiritual open sores. Loneliness. Anxiety. Envy. Indifference. Doubt. Rebellion. Like Isaiah’s hearers, we reject God’s guidance as outdated or irrelevant. Like them, we often devour mankind’s fickle prescriptions for contentment and peace. Divorced from Scriptural truth, these earthly therapies are empty. We so easily discard heaven-sent medicine and try to mend broken hearts with lard and tobacco.

When they refused the Lord’s instructions, Israel earned defeat by foreign invaders. For generations, most of God’s people were hostages in a faraway land. Because of our sins, we each deserve a more permanent penalty. Hell. Eternity apart from God. A fatal, inescapable, broken heart. This would be the just punishment for our willful disobedience.

But in Chapter 61, Isaiah promises one absolute antidote: Jesus Christ. What does the prophet mean when he says the Son of God is coming to bind our broken hearts? Fully divine and fully human, Jesus alone bandages our spiritual sores. His holy life and undeserved death on the cross repair the damage this world cannot. Only his perfect innocence provides the everlasting comfort we require. His sacrifice brings genuine healing to the helpless. His Easter triumph over the grave cures us completely and invites us into heaven forever. These miracles are the blessed mystery that we welcome anew each Advent.

Your cross, O Christ, is my sole source of spiritual health. Take me there to recognize my weakness. Let me leave filled with the strength you won for me. Amen.

Professor Paul Grubbs serves Martin Luther College
as a professor of English.