Scar: Evidence of Healing
In the gospel of Matthew 4:23, Jesus enters the ministry by preaching and curing the sick. Throughout four gospels we are told that healing was a vital part of Jesus’ ministry. According to Luke (9:1-2), Jesus empowered the disciples to preach and to heal. Hence, the church―the current disciples of Jesus―are empowered to preach and to heal. For a healing to occur the Church needs to be intentional about being a place of healing, and those to be healed must be willing to be healed.
Easton, CT, where I live, is an affluent area with fewer than eight thousand residents. Most Easton folk are highly educated with wealth enough to live sheltered, secluded lives. Yet, on December 14, 2012 something unthinkable happened: 26 innocent lives were taken from a place where they were assumed to be most safe, the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Many people in the area were scared, so I opened the church for prayer. The following Sunday, the service became a source of healing and comfort as we sang a Christmas cantata that shared the message of hope at such a devastating time. Later I was told that having a church open and available had given people comfort.
While a church can be a place of healing in a time of fear and need for spiritual comfort, many churches have become sick themselves―unable to bring healing to the people. As people hear of clergy abuse, betrayal by the leaders, and rejection of marginalized groups, some may no longer continue to trust the church. In addition, the church may no longer be seen as the people of God but the building in which the people gather. Some of these buildings are reflections of the people who gather in them who may focus more on needing money to restore the buildings than doing ministry to uplift and transform its people and reach out to others.
Another aspect of healing is that people who come for healing need a will to be healed. In 2 Kings 5, Naaman, a powerful general, had leprosy and wanted to be healed. When he was told that a prophet, Elisha, in Israel, could cure him, he went there immediately. However, when Elisha told Naaman to wash in the Jordan River he was offended. His pride got in the way for he thought Elisha should have done something more extravagant to bring healing to someone of his importance. On the contrary, the instruction prescribed by Elisha was not a simple path for someone like Naaman, a person of great pride and power. The prophet told the general to wash in the muddy waters of the Jordan River. The first step toward healing for Naaman was to be willing to humble before God, but humbling himself was one of the hardest things for Naaman to do.
We live in a society where people have access to much knowledge through the Internet, newsletters, Wikipedia, and the like. The point is that in a society where people know so much we may feel we are experts. Like Naaman, we know better, but until we humble ourselves and allow spiritual healing to take place, we are immobilized and powerless.
Hence, as people seek spiritual healing, it is possible that they may distrust the still small voice of God. Like Naaman, our hubris may prevent us from entering the muddy water for healing.
There is also the story of the woman who was bleeding for twelve years—found in Mark (15:21-43); Matthew (91:8-26); and Luke (8:40-56). Here, her faith in God through Jesus was so great that she knew even a touch of Jesus’ cloak would heal her. The story teaches us that when we are willing to submit and be humbled before God it frees us from fear and offers us a new life.
In addition, we no longer want to remember the scars that came out of the healing. I have a four-year old daughter who cut her knee when she was only two and a half years old. I thought I knew how to treat cuts as I was trained in first aid. But something went wrong and her small cut got infected, and now she has a visible scar on her pretty little knee. Every time I look at that knee I feel guilty. One day, I was commenting to a friend on how awful a mother I am that I had caused this scar; my friend said, “Don’t worry. They can fix that scar as if it never existed.” Then it dawned on me that this is how we see our wounds in our lives. We want to fix them so that we no longer remember them.
While some preach that Jesus heals our emotional wounds so we no longer can see them, I think it is dangerous to think that Jesus erases our past. In John’s gospel the resurrection story is told with the resurrected Jesus appearing before the disciples bearing scars from the cross on his hands and his side to prove to them that he was crucified and is now resurrected. Jesus used his scars to remind the disciples of what he had done for them. As such, healing is not about erasing the wounds. Healing is about making our scars become reminders of God’s grace. When we remember our scars we can learn to understand and love others as God has loved us. If we think that we are perfect because we no longer have the scars, we may lose the ability to understand others’ hurts.
There was a young woman being interviewed by a committee for ordination. As part of the interview process she was given a psychological evaluation. The young woman came from a family with an abusive father and her parents were divorced when she was in college. As she searched for her path toward ordination, through the grace of God she encountered many people who had helped her find healing. However, her experience left scars, and she knew these scars will always remind her of the past. The ordination committee was so impressed by her sense of presence that they told her despite her past they were going to pass her for ordination.
I have always wondered how could the ordination committee consider the wounded past as an issue and not know that God calls those who understand pain and healing so that they can bring healing to others. For only those who understand the grace of God that heals know that healing can happen to anyone.
