Based on Acts 2:22-32, 1Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-29, Psalm 16
Welcome to the liturgical season known as “Eastertide” or more commonly, “The Great 50 Days of Easter”. We read that Jesus went wandering around Galilee for 40 days after Easter in a new form that could disappear and move through physical impediments like locked doors and walls. Jesus had been resurrected with a body that was similar in outward appearance to his mortal body, but he looked different enough to not be recognized immediately by those closest to him. However, the wounds that were inflicted upon him by his tormentors were visible to all.
I have spent the last 40 years of my life caring for wounded people. Some wounds have been visible, horrific, life-threatening or life-ending, some have been invisible to the eye but devastating to the person’s life, some have healed well and some have never healed; some have been my own. The reality of life is that none of us get through it unwounded; we all suffer from the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” as Shakespeare wrote. Through the years, I’ve come to understand that it is what we do with and through our wounds that makes a difference in the world. I have also found great truth in the teaching that wounded people wound people.
This is why it is so important for us to reflect on the wounds of Jesus today - wounds that were visible yet had been transformed. Wounds that no longer caused him any distress and woundedness that calls disciples (then and now) to reach out to others to use our wounds, like Jesus did, to heal the hurts of the world. The Resurrected Christ brought back from the grave the wounded body that he took there. He came back into the world to show believers how to bring healing hope to a wounded world. This is what our scripture readings teach us today.
In 1Peter, the writer expounds on the mercy God had upon us to give “us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. The writer goes on to say that the faithful will experience grief in all kinds of trials, but they have received salvation for their souls. In the Book of Acts, Peter is preaching his first sermon to the Israelites gathered for the celebration of Pentecost. Peter provides them a way to atone for their role in killing the Messiah through repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus. In this way, Peter, through God’s unconditional love, healed the wounds of guilt and shame that some 3000 people were carrying.
The Gospel reading from John picks up the events of Easter later that evening. The Risen Christ appears to the disciples who were huddled behind locked doors. Jesus spoke peace to them and breathed into them the Holy Spirit. Thomas was not there and disbelieves the accounts of the others – after all, how can someone (even Jesus) simply appear through solid doors and walls? Thomas says that he won’t believe until he can touch Jesus’ wounds.
This story of Thomas begs the question…why did Thomas want to not just see Jesus, but to touch his wounds as well? Maybe Thomas was just a “hands on” type of guy – someone who needs to touch something to verify that it is real? Afterall, it is one thing to observe someone’s wounds, it is quite another to reach out and touch them – to reach out and to wash, dress and seek to heal the wounds of another. Caring for the wounds of others makes them real, they become part of how we understand the world and our role in it. We learn that healing can often be painfully slow when we come back day after day to check for signs of healing or further woundedness. Further, we can no longer deny the woundedness that is all around us, for we are intimately connected to another for as long as it takes for complete healing. Even after healing is accomplished, there is often a scar left behind as a permanent reminder of our suffering.
Caring for wounded people can leave scars on us as well. Healthcare professionals, especially physicians, are taught to be objective and detached from all the suffering they encounter. They are trained that way to be able to be dispassionately rational in their approaches to diagnosing and healing the wounds of others. Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, herself a physician who lived with inflammatory bowel disease and the scars from multiple surgeries, provides some wisdom about our need to get in touch with one another’s wounds.
In her book, “Kitchen Table Wisdom” she writes, “…Sir William Osler one of the fathers of modern medicine is widely quoted as having said that objectivity is the essential quality of the true physician. The original quote was in Latin, and it is the word aequanimatas which is usually translated as ‘objectivity’. But aequanimatas means ‘calmness of mind’ or ‘inner peace’. Inner peace is certainly the ultimate resource for dealing with suffering on a daily basis. But this isn’t something achieved by distancing yourself from the suffering around you. Inner peace is more a question of cultivating perspective, meaning and wisdom even as life touches you with its pain….”
Jesus invites Thomas to touch the places that once caused him pain. Jesus the Christ is inviting Thomas and all the disciples (then and now) to get in touch with the suffering around them and to claim the healing power of God by recognizing that the risen Christ is with all who suffer. This recognition then brings the love of God to work through us to heal, to provide hope, to provide empathy and relationship into the wider world through our experiences of healing from our wounds.
I mentioned last week that living as Easter people means that we are commanded to put the teachings and the healing love of Jesus to work in our world. We are not just supposed to listen to scripture each week and nod our heads in agreement – we are to go out and get our hands dirty. We do not have to be trained wound care professionals to accomplish healings, we simply need to understand that our healed wounds can be used to heal the wounds of others. When we love ourselves enough to heal our own wounds, then we can love others enough to provide the compassion that their wounds require. We can tap into the Holy Spirit to provide us inner peace that creates the perspective, meaning, wisdom, mercy and compassion that we need to heal others.
The Risen Christ is the transformative love that can heal all our wounds. Our healed wounds can then become wounds that heal others. All around us are wounded people who are wounding other people. We are called to change that narrative and bring unconditional love to all who are wounded so that they can heal. When we do enough of this, then the world will become God’s kingdom. Let us work on healing each other through the love of Christ, so that we can be heal the wounds of the world. Amen and amen!