**Please Note: the recording begins a few moments into the sermon.
The prophet Isaiah proclaims that by the wounds of Christ, God’s people are healed. Does he mean that because Jesus was wounded, we won’t be? Does he mean that the suffering of Christ somehow spares us from any suffering? Certainly not. The Apostles read and interpreted Isaiah for us. Peter quotes this very promise amid his letter on suffering. He tells Christians that they have been called to follow in the footsteps of Christ’s suffering. That Christians should expect to suffer more than others, not less. So in what sense, then, do the wounds of Jesus heal us? Peter writes: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Jesus forged the way out of sin’s grip by facing all of sin’s sorrow and pain. And he now says to us, “Follow me.” He invites us to walk out of sin’ grip by facing all of sin’s sorrow and pain with him. In Christ, every wound is a source of healing.