"The beginning and the end of all Christian leadership is to give your life for others."

Henri Nouwen

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

The progress in our world today has come with unintended consequences. Kingdoms are often built with blood. Our ambition to build empires has come at a cost. Pastors use volunteers to build churches, influencers use followers to build platforms, brands use customers to build fortunes. So many of the calls for justice today are simply calls to acknowledge and repair the damage done by aggressive men who built their legacy without thought of the human cost.

I have built with ungodly ambition for which I carry deep regret, and I have been wounded by others’ ambition with deep pain. There has to be a better way to live our calling without the damage that follows so many today. 

In fact, it’s amazing how much Gen Z doesn’t seem interested in empire-building. The focus is more human, more healing. They want to tend to the wounds of the damage done by the ambition of previous generations. They tend to care about structural justice, not success. Inclusion, not impact.

Jesus didn’t fit into the empire-building categories of his day either. So much of his ministry was about healing and restoration. He came to free those caught in the power games of his world. Those ground out as cogs in the fights of kings and emperors, teachers, and tetrarchs.

At the opening of his ministry, Jesus frames his vision of his kingdom from the mission of Isaiah 61. Take a moment and read this slowly. Try and hear it with fresh ears. 

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,

to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

Jesus is building another kind of kingdom.

With another kind of mission.

With a different kind of vision.

Jesus is building a kingdom of love for the wounded of this world.

So many men have been wounded by the wars of the modern world. Political wars, relational wars, vocational wars, family wars. So many men walk around with gaping wounds in their hearts. Father wounds, wounds of rejection, wounds of shame, wounds of failure. So many men walk around in desperate need of the ministry of Jesus. I meet so many wounded men who don’t know what to do with their pain. They don’t want to become bitter but they don’t know how to move forward. They seem stuck between ambition and ambivalence. Looking for a way of impact without injury, destiny without damage.

There is good news for those feeling like they are stuck. Those with wounded hearts.  Those in bondage. The good news of Jesus' mission is that the places of our brokenness may become the places of redemption. The very places of our hurt are the places we can offer hope. The truth is, most men don’t want you to help them be successful; they want you to help them become whole. They aren’t looking to hear about your success; they want you to join them in their suffering and lead them forward.

These verses in Isaiah paint an amazing vision of restoration, renewal, and hope:

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated;

they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God.

What a vision! Restoration of the devastated places.

Renewing cities from generational despair.

Planted by God, serving as ministers and priests.

But who is going to do this work of restoration?

Who is the "they" in this passage?

Who is rebuilding and restoring and ministering for God?

It's not the powerful, the strong, or the mightily. No.

It’s those who have been restored by the touch of God.

Those whose broken hearts will build with love.

Those set free from darkness will guide others to the light.

Those who mourned will share their comfort.

Those saved from despair will share their praise.

Those clothed with splendor will remove others’ ashes.

Those with wounds that have been healed will welcome the weary into the kingdom of God. The healers become the helpers, the wounded the workers, the broken the builders. The rebuilding will come from those who have been made whole by the love of Jesus. The work of the Messiah is the work of wounded healers.

And these are the men that the world is aching for today.

Not men building out of narcissism or ego. Not men building with something to prove. Not men killing it and crushing it at whatever cost.

No.

God will use the weak, the weary, and the wounded who have found help and hope and grace. They will restore because they have been restored. They move toward the brokenhearted because they have been healed of their broken-heartedness.

Don’t be ashamed of your wounds. Don’t hide from your failures out of embarrassment. Bring them to Jesus. As Robert Bly reminds us:

"Where a man’s wound is, that is where his genius will be. Wherever the wound appears in our psyches, whether from alcoholic father, shaming mother, … whether it stems from isolation, disability, or disease, that is precisely the place for which we will give our major gift to the community."

This is the kind of genius we need today. Not technological genius, financial genius, or sporting genius. We need the genius of healing. Where those who know what pain and heartache and failure feels like lead those who need mercy into a kingdom of grace.

The day of the celebrity pastor is coming to a close.

The day of the alpha leader is coming to an end.

The day of platforms and pride is fading out.

The day of the wounded healer is upon us.

Your wounds are not just your genius; they are your gateway to your gift.

Henri Nouwen wrote:

Like Jesus, he who proclaims liberation is called not only to care for his own wounds and the wounds of others, but also to make his wounds into a major source of his healing power.

What should you do with your wounds? Receive healing and give healing.

There is a generation of men waiting for your ministry there.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers.

Jon.