04272022 – Stop the Killing..Stop the bloodshed…Stop the wars!
BODIES have always mattered.
(At least as far as the church is concerned!)
I guess that is WHY when someone is murdered or killed, they always try to “HIDE the BODY.”
BODIES are important. They matter.
BODIES mean something to us.
When there is “NO” BODY, people suffer silently for decades and “live in constant WONDER.”
Not that we always take the best care of our BODIES…that we DO HAVE…Or that we fail to abuse them, because we do in many, many ways…We eat too much…We smoke too much…We drink too much…We eat the wrong things…We put the wrong things into our bodies…constantly…ie, junk food…sugars, sweets, fats, carbs…the list is endless…and goes on and on…
That was “part of the reason” that people were at one time opposed to cremation…it reduced the BODY to ash. And BODIES, are important!
That was (I believe) part of the backlash that we suffered over COVID shots and the booster shots…some people feared WHAT was going INTO their bodies…And yet we eat a hot dog without wincing…or without thinking…And WHAT is in “that stuff” the the dentist shoots into our gums?
When they show the AERIAL SHOTS of mass graves in Ukraine, we “shudder” a little…
When we see BODY BAGS lined up along the streets of Ukraine, again we “shiver…”
BODIES have always mattered to us.
We want BODIES treated RESPECTFULLY and FAIRLY, cared for PROPERLY.
The Church has been obsessed with THE BODY seemingly from the beginning.
This being “The season of Easter”…the importance of the BODY is again reflected in our reading…
The resurrection story “implies” that BODIES matter or should matter.
Jesus’ resurrection is not merely “a spiritual thing” – “the apparition of his ghost,” or of his “ONGOING spiritual influence.”
The Gospels all insist that the resurrection includes “Jesus’ BODY.”
BODIES matter. BODIES are important…
We’ve even written it into our credal statements. “The Resurrection of THE BODY…”
Fat, skinny, pudgy, wrinkled, sutured, stapled, BODIES matter. We even talk about BODY shaming…
So, I want you to HEAR AGAIN and realize the importance of the BODY…in the holy scriptures…
That very first evening, we are talking about EASTER EVENING…Jesus somehow appears among the disciples despite the fact that they are hiding behind locked doors. John tells us, he shows them his wounded hands and his side — the disciples SEE Jesus’ BODY — and the disciples REJOICE at the sight.
It was all about the BODY and SEEING it.
Unfortunately, Thomas was absent for this Easter evening appearance.
We DO NOT KNOW why he misses this event. And there is all kinds of speculation about it…and of course, we will never know…But, in any case, Thomas DOES NOT SEE Jesus’ BODY, and he is therefore determined NOT to believe… “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will NOT BELIEVE.”
Again, he needs to see THE BODY. His desire is to touch THE BODY. Feel the THE BODY…Someone has rightfully pointed out that IT IS so UNFAIR that we belittle Thomas for his failure to believe.
No one else in John’s Easter account – has believed without SEEING the BODY. But they ALL expect Thomas, to…
Thomas simply wants to see THE BODY, for himself, like all the rest did.
We know “HOW” it ALL turns OUT.
Jesus returns — again one week later passing through shut doors — and invites Thomas to inspect his wounded, scarred BODY. BODIES are important!
And the biggest line in the whole gospel account is “Blessed are those who have NOT SEEN and yet have come to believe.”
Apparently NOT everybody “on this side of Paradise” is going to be able to SEE JESUS’ BODY.
And we have to live with that one…and accept it. But BLESSED were those – that did see it…including Thomas, of old.
But that doesn’t mean for us the BODY is any less important – because IT still IS. For us, BODIES matter…Or so we continue to say…and if that is truly SO, than shouldn’t we stop all the killing, bloodshed and war…? Just asking?
Now, if we could just learn to take care of them, throughout our lifetime and truly did consider them to be “the Temple of the Holy Spirit”…that the Bible talks about…Now THAT would really be something!
Amen.