Luke 7:11-17; Galatians 1: 17, 18, 19,23

Collecting scars

As we have seen in our discussion of the lectionary reading in Luke, Jesus performs an amazing act of healing.  This is a crucial act because the mother in the account is a widow and widows were the most powerless people in that society.  When we read the Gospels however we can see that Jesus is sometimes reluctant to do great acts of miraculous healing.  It is almost as if He finds it a distraction from his main task: to usher in the Kingdom of God and reconcile people to God. He is ultimately a healer of the relationship of God and people. You and I neither know what to do with the miraculous acts nor do we understand why He would be reluctant to do them.  Part of that may be because our context for understanding healing is different from the context Jesus lived in.  Jesus lived in an impoverished backwater of the Roman Empire.  The people had no power and even their own leaders behaved like puppets.  Just decades later a great rebellion against the Romans would result in the permanent destruction of the Jewish Temple.  Pretty much the only way someone in that society could gain prominence would be to be a great teacher and a great healer. Any hint at political power would be the end of a leader.  Jesus found that out.  It almost cost Him His life as a child already.  In that world life expectancy was short and life overall pretty miserable. People looked beyond life on earth.  Physical healing in that light would only be temporary.

Our understanding of physical healing is very different. Miraculous things still happen but they tend to be more subtle and are often induced or facilitated by modern medicine. It is also crucial to us because in this the most powerful country and largest economy in the history of the world extending life and improving its quality are supreme values.  Life expectancy has never been greater.

Yet what Jesus teaches us and what is true for us as much as it was then is that there is more to healing than the physical kind.  We see healing mostly as the ‘success of a medical procedure.’ Everyone who needs that is to be pitied and everyone who doesn’t is considered lucky or healthy.  That of course is not true.  When we read Paul we see a man of great strength and courage, but between the lines we also see a man who is unsure of himself.  This is where today’s passage in Galatians intrigues me.  Why did Paul not connect with the disciples right away?  The pious response would be that he had ministry work to do. Still why not consolidate the ministry? From a pastoral counseling angle I would love to ask him that:” So Paul, what is behind this? What’s your story? You were their persecutor, do you have issues there?

Friends, where am I going with this?  Where I am going is to the point where we recognize that as human beings we spend our lives collecting scars and the scar tissue keeps building up. These scars are all over our body and in our body.  At one point they made it necessary for healing to take place.  But there are also scars of the mind and of scars of the heart and yes scars of the soul.  My guess is that to Paul some of those scars still caused him discomfort.  Persecution would always be a big part of his resume.

Harper Lee wrote a follow-up novel to “To kill a Mockingbird.” In “To set a Watchman,” Scout is a young woman who returns to Maycomb, Alabama to visit her aging father Atticus Finch.  The southern town loves revivals and the Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians all have them and often they combine. Scout or Mary Louise as she is known now remembers playing “revival” with her brother and her friend Dill. One of them dressed up as “The Holy Ghost,” a great sin in their churches.  They were reprimanded by revival leader Rev. Moorehead who says a prayer in the Finch house.  In the prayer the minister had asked for forgiveness from God for the bad behavior of the “motherless” children.  Scout saw Atticus crying during that prayer.  We can ask:” what was this prayer doing? Was it healing the wounds of the widower Atticus or was it opening the scars? You tell me.

Friends, we collect scars throughout life like we collect memories and wisdom.  Something someone once said that stung or something they didn’t say to support us; the attitude of a parent toward us; the insensitivity of a teacher or a principal; the loss of love or loved ones; the dashing of dreams of illusions, an unresolved conflict. We are in many ways shaped by our scars.  So healing is not something that is temporary and physical. It is a need we have throughout our lives.  The task, of the church, to a large degree, is to bring healing to the world, the healing of faith that brings forgiveness and hope, the healing of community and the healing that reaching out to the suffering provides.  We are all always in need of that. Thanks be to God.