This morning our nurse brought tiny Aliza into the room after drawing blood from her heal for a bilirubin count. Looking at Aliza’s bruised heal, Angela and I had the same reaction. Fear. We didn’t have to say a word to one another; one look from Angela communicated it all. It was a momentary flashback to Beverly Hospital nearly nine years ago when our son Luke was born and diagnosed with severe hemophilia. Even though Aliza doesn’t have hemophilia, something about bruises on newborns transports us through time.
Moments after feeling the fear of our memory, I thought about Genesis 3:15, where it says that one day the offspring of the woman shall have his heal bruised, but only after crushing the serpent’s head. Here is the full text:
And the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall crush you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel" (Genesis 3:14-15).
The baby in the manger grew to a man, and through his bruised heal, pierced with a spike, the power of sin and death was crushed forever. Adam’s fallen race lives with bruises, but each one bears witness to the victory of the woman’s Seed—the Messiah, Jesus, the Savior who died, rose, and lives even now to provide us with healing and redemption. Praise God!
