Most of us, I suppose, want to have things perfect or nearly so. Even Paul got irritated with his ‘thorn in the flesh’ (2 Cor. 12:7). ‘Three times I asked the Lord to remove it, but he said, “my grace is sufficient for you: for power is at full stretch in weakness.”’ Paul went to his death with that thorn still in his flesh.
Perhaps our wanting to be perfect and have everything just right is a sign of insecurity. Why did the Pharisees devise all sorts of rules? It seems it was a device to secure their identity – against others: the Romans and even their own people, ‘who know nothing … and are damned’ (John 7:49). They were an elite group – a mutual admiration society – who looked after each other and ignored everyone else.
But Jesus wasn’t interested in this kind of “perfection”. The God he revealed was a God of compassion. He shocked his hearers when he told them the story of the father who did not reject and disinherit his (prodigal) son – in fact he did the opposite. He celebrated his return and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, signs of honour, and reinstated his son at an even higher level than before.
The elder brother, like the Pharisees, could not take this subversive teaching. It threatened the established (perfect) order. He became angry and ‘would not go in’ to greet his brother.
The five wounds on the body of the dead Jesus have been honoured by Christians for two thousand years. Arthur Shirley Cripps, the great Anglican missionary in this country, called his mission Maronda Mashanu. ‘By his wounds we are healed’ (Is 53:5).
So which are my wounds? What is my thorn? Whatever it is I need to make friends with it. It can be a source of healing. It shows up the limits of my ‘perfect’ world. It reminds me that I am not perfect and neither is anyone else. It urges me to accept myself as I am and accept others as they are. After all, that is what God does. He accepts us just as we are with all our wounds and frailties. Reinhold Niebuhr composed this prayer: ‘Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.’ That sums it up.
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis