During this season of Easter, the gospel for yesterday was Luke 24: 36-48 in which the resurrected Jesus appears to his disciples. At first they were surprised and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. Jesus calms and reassures them by saying,
“”Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.”
It was the wounds of Jesus on his glorified body even more than his words that helped the disciples recognize that Jesus’ presence with them was real. As I reflect on this, it seems to me that these “resurrected wounds” were more than a way for the disciples to recognize Jesus on that first Easter evening. His wounds also connect Jesus with us and remind us that our own wounds can be “resurrected” through the love of God in Jesus. In other words, the pain and hurt that we bring to God can be healed so that we become agents of God’s love and healing for others who have similar wounds. The various 12 Step groups are a powerful witness that deep wounds that make life unmanageable can be healed and that these wounds become the opening to bring healing and fellowship with others who have suffered in similar ways.This is true not only on an individual level but also with the wounds of our society. The wounds of America’s original sin of racism impact all of us. Yet when we dare to bring them to consciousness and offer them to God for healing individually and in community, we become the agents of healing for others even as we continue to bear and work with the wounds of racism that we carry. At New Community Church in Washington, DC where our ministry is based, we describe ourselves as a Resurrection and Recovery Community. The ministry of The Cornelius Corps is one way of living into resurrection and recovery by: 1) lifting up the wounds of racism in our lives and society, 2) offering those wounds to God for ongoing recovery and healing, and 3) becoming agents of recovery and healing for others as we share our “resurrected wounds.”