A Time to Be Wounded
by S. M. Hutchens
People who know what they want the Bible to say are often ready teachers of Scripture. I once was being interviewed for a church position by a lady who asked, "Are you vulnerable? Jesus was vulnerable."
"That is true," said I, "for he submitted to being fatally wounded in his Passion. But you will recall that his neighbors in Nazareth tried to lynch him, and he declined the honor. The Lord was in fact selectively vulnerable—he had to be to save himself for the Great Sacrifice."
Had I been wiser, I might have stopped there, considering my own teaching duty that the lady had called forth at an end, but in the impetuosity of youth I nailed the point down: "There are a few to whom I am completely vulnerable, with others I am less so, and with others not at all." Unsurprisingly, the Vulnerability Lady did not give me a favorable report, and I was fortunate enough not to get the job.
Thus defending me, here with the jawbone of an ass, has the Lord saved me from many an unnecessary wound.
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
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