Month: April 2019

John 20:19-31    

Second Sunday of Easter

 

Easter was glorious, wasn’t it?  Our worship space filled with flowers, music that stirred our souls, and lots of smiling people. The atmosphere was joyous!  How very easy to forget that only two days earlier Jesus hung on a cross until he died. We had little thought to Jesus’ pierced flesh.  We have no problem putting that in the past and disconnecting it from Jesus’ victory over death.

When it was evening on that day.  That day was the first day of the week, the same day that Mary stood weeping outside the empty tomb, and the same day she saw the resurrected Jesus.  On that day, his disciples retreated, shutting the doors of the house and locking the world out.  Now Jesus stood in front of them, and his first words were, Peace be with you.  The Risen Christ’s first words were his gift of grace.  See my hands and my sides, he invited them.  Thomas wasn’t with them at the time, but a week later, Jesus came to the house again.  Put your finger here, he said.  Put your hand inmy side.  They weren’t scars.  They were wounds, and deep enough to put your hand in.  The places where the nails and the spear pierced Jesus’ flesh were so fresh, they might bleed if you touched them.

How many of us are walking around with fresh wounds?  Who among us does not bear scars?  When you experience something awful, is it literally gut-wrenching?  Our bodies react in various ways,–headaches, upset stomachs, and our heart pounding so hard we can hear it in our ears.  If the upset is constant, we may try to shut it off with drugs or alcohol.  People who study trauma have found that it can lodge itself into our bodies.

Bessel van der Kolk, a leading innovator in the treatment of traumatic stress, tells a story from the 1970’s when he began working with the Veterans Administration.  The first patient he saw was a Vietnam veteran who suffered with terrible nightmares.  He prescribed medication, which the veteran never took.   Van de Kolk’s patient explained, “’I did not take your medicines because I realized I need to have my nightmares because I need to be a living memorial to my friends who died in Vietnam.”

Trauma victims hold in “their hearts and minds and bodies and brains” things that no longer exist.  Their experience never fades; the memory of it remains as if it were happening currently.  Trauma lands in the parts of the brain that help people see clearly.[1]  There responses and decisions become impaired.  Perhaps that is what made the man in California filled with hate, so much that he killed one and wounded three other Jewish people gathered at their synagogue.

To a lesser degree, all of us at one time or another become impaired.  We experience parts of our brain shutting down when our emotions are high. Van der Kolk provides this example:  You get really upset with your partner or your kid, suddenly you take leave of your senses and you say horrible things to that person.  And afterwards, you say, ‘Oh, I didn’t mean to say that.’”[2]

The things that happen to us, chronic illness, addiction, abuse, violence, anything that leaves scars, become part of who we are.  Our woundedness goes with us wherever we go. Jesus entered the locked room, carrying his wounds with him.  Even in his resurrection, Jesus shares our humanity. When the Word became flesh, God affirmed the goodness of our bodies.  When that flesh became broken, God honored our experiences.  Jesus’ raw wounds did not define him, but rather testified to his real presence.  The same is true for us.  We are more than the things that happen to us.

Thomas returned to the house. We know him as Doubting Thomas, even though he did not ask for anything the other disciples had not already experienced.  His need to verify was not unique to him.  After all, the women who saw the empty tomb were thought to be telling an idle tale at first.  But now Thomas was in the middle of believing people, his friends, who had already seen Jesus. In front of them all, Thomas declared his doubt.  We should all be brave enough to voice our doubts! He had so many questions for Jesus floating around in his head.  Why would someone as sinless as you suffer?   Are you staying? What does this all mean? What questions are you asking?

In the house with Thomas were his grief, his fear and his uncertainty.  Wounded Jesus showed up and said, “Peace be with you.”  Suddenly, Thomas didn’t need to touch him, or to ask any questions.  He needed nothing else but Jesus to be right there next to him.  When Thomas’ doubt met Jesus still bearing wounds, something happened.  He saw the world differently.  He began to live into a new identity and new stories. Thomas began to live resurrection life.

I think trauma really does confront you with the best and the worst,Bessel van der Kolk says. You see the horrendous things that people do to each other, but you also see resiliency, the power of love, the power of caring, the power of commitment, the power of commitment to oneself, the knowledge that there are things that are larger than our individual survival. And in some ways, I don’t think you can appreciate the glory of life unless you also know the dark side of life.[3]

Each of us has known that dark side of life.  Together, we are the wounded body of Christ.  We are witnesses who have survived our brokenness. We are living testimony that through Christ, we have life of abundance.  The risen Christ is with us this day, in our sharing of the peace, in our prayers and in our praise, and in the hearing of the word.  Christ comes to us in the breaking of the bread, and the drinking of the wine, the body and blood of Christ.  In all these ways, Christ comes to be with us.

Church historian Jaroslav Pelikan said, “If the Resurrection of Jesus actually happened, then nothing else really matters.  If the Resurrection of Jesus did not actually happen, then nothing else really matters.”[4]  Our belief in the resurrection is more than a confession of faith.  It is a declaration of a relationship.  He is Risen!  He is Risen indeed!  Alleluia!

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

[1]https://onbeing.org/programs/bessel-van-der-kolk-how-trauma-lodges-in-the-body-mar2017/.   Accessed April 23, 2019.

[2]Ibid.

[3]Ibid.

[4]Bruner, Frederick Dale.  The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids:  William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012, 1163.

 

John 13:1-17, 31b-35    

Maundy Thursday

In Northern Ireland, there were three decades of deathly struggles between Catholics and Protestants.  The Troubles, as the conflict was called, was both religious and political.  Although the Good Friday Agreementin 1998 was to end the conflict, low-levels of violence and open wounds still exist. A community leader, Pádraig Ó Tuama, ministers to heal broken relationships between Irish Catholics and Protestants. Using an Irish idiom to talk about trust, he says, “You are the place where I stand on the day when my feet are sore.” He says, “It’s so physical, that beautiful understanding.  You can find that with each other, even when you think different things.”[1] To me, this says that when the foundation of my being hurts, and I cannot go another step, it’s good to be together, and to rest in our relationship. “You are the place where I stand on the day when my feet are sore.”

We come from a history of religious and political “troubles.” Jesus sparked an atmosphere that grew more tense the longer he was around.  He threatened the established political hierarchy, social system, and economic structures.   When the time drew near for Passover, people wondered if Jesus would show up at the Passover festival.  “Keep an eye out so that we can arrest him,” the religious leaders plotted.  Most recently, Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. Now the religious leaders wanted to kill both Jesus and Lazarus. Some people believed he was the Messiah, the one who came from God to save them from their oppression. Some didn’t.  The struggle was a both political and religious.

It wasn’t only Jesus’ enemies speaking of his death. Jesus himself began talking about it, too. To say that Jesus’ healing and proclamation of love and God’s forgiveness brought misunderstanding is an understatement.  Anger, even hatred, rumors and collusion permeated the air.  Tension, and suspicion were at every turn.  Where were truth and trust?  Where do you stand when your feet are sore?

For over a century, people attended the churches in the St. Landry parish in southern Louisiana.  Generations of families had made these predominantly black churches their spiritual home. About three weeks ago, over the course of ten days, three of the churches in this parish were destroyed by fires that were intentionally set. The 21 year-old man who destroyed the buildings was charged with hate crimes and arson. Parishioners have said that although their churches were destroyed, their spirit was not.  Statistics show that most hate crimes in our country are committed by white people who are motivated by race, religion and sexual orientation.[2]Where do you stand when your feet are sore?

Our “troubles” are also fueled by issues surrounding immigration, The organization Human Rights Firstcompleted a study of “the mental, physical, and legal impacts of massive overuse of immigration detention in California.” The report documents sexual assault complaints, verbal and physical abuse, lack of legal representation, lack of mental and physical healthcare, and poor detainment conditions.”  Many people are held for years despite the fact that they“qualify for release under U.S. law, regulations, and other relevant criteria.”[3]  In addition to this, thousands more children were separated from their families than previously thought.  It could take up to two more years for them to be identified and reunited.[4]  Where do you stand when your feet are sore?

Jesus and his disciples gathered privately for what would be their final meal together.  Sitting around the table were Judas, who will soon betray him, and Peter, who will come to deny Jesus not just once, but 3 times. James and John, the ones who will be unable to keep watch or pray with Jesus in his dark hour were there, as well. They were sitting among others who will abandon Jesus at the cross.  Though Jesus knows these things, the word we hear Jesus speak repeatedly in John’s gospel islove. He says this word 31 times in his Farewell Discourse.[5]

As Jesus shares his last meal before his death, we are drawn back to the waters of baptism.  During supper, after the meal had started, Jesus got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around his waist.  He poured water into a bowl. and washed their feet, and then dried them with the towel, Judas, and Peter, and James and John, and the other disciples– no one was excluded from this radical act of love.

Peter was horrified.  He couldn’t accept Jesus serving him, and refused to have his feet washed. Martin Luther posited that it is often our “righteousness” rather than our sin that gets in the way of our relationship with the Lord.[6]  Jesus explained that his relationship with Peter depended on servanthood. Peter, putting himself in charge– again, and not understanding– again, told Jesus to give him a bath.  “Oh, Peter!”  Jesus said, shaking his head. “You really don’t get it, do you? Trust me.”

Just like everything else Jesus did, he turned the custom of washing feet upside down.  When guests came to a home, they had walked along dusty dirt roads.  With sandaled feet, they walked the same dirt path that animals walked, and they stepped in what animals leave behind after digesting a hearty meal. When guests arrived, the dinner host had servants wash their dirty, tired feet before the meal. By washing the disciples’ feet, he demonstrated radical love that overcomes status and power.  It upsets the imbalance of privilege.  Jesus’ simple act of hospitality put relationships on the basis of equality and mutual respect.  “Do this,” Jesus told them.  Where do you stand when your feet are sore?

“I will give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”  Jesus’ words are not just for the disciples around the table.  They are for us, too. What makes this mandate to love one another newis its source, Jesus. Love them, Jesus says. Love the one who betrayed you.  Love the denier, the self-centered and inattentive. Even love those who refuse to stand with you through the things that kill you.  Love the black one, the brown one, the purple one, the Jewish one, the Muslim one, the atheist, the straight one, the gay one.  Love them enough to wash their feet.

Where do you stand when your feet are sore?  Stand with the One who will wash them.  And then stay for dinner.

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

 

[1]On Being with Krista Tippett, https://onbeing.org/programs/padraig-o-tuama-belonging-creates-and-undoes-us/.  Accessed April 12, 2019.  Pádraig Ó Tuama is the community leader of Corrymeela, Northern Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation organization.

[2]https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/hate-crime-statistics.  Accessed April 17, 2019.

[3]https://www.gcir.org/resources/prisons-and-punishment-immigration-detention-california. Accessed April 17, 2019.

[4]https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/us/family-separation-trump-administration.html.  Accessed April 17, 2019.

[5]John 13:31-17:26.

[6]Bruner, Frederick.   The Gospel of John: A Commentary. Grand Rapids:  Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012.  767.