Wounds that Heal

Missing the Obvious

I’m Drowning

The weather has been freezing. As I’ve huddled inside for warmth this week, I thought to myself that I’ve only been this cold perhaps one other time in my life. This kind of weather is terrible for almost everything except deer hunting. If you’re cold, that means the deer are cold too, and they have no choice but to move to stay warm. So cold weather is always a good time to be in the woods, and my Dad and I never missed an opportunity to hunt. When I was younger, however, I really hated cold weather hunting, because it meant I had to wear my coveralls. (insert explanation of coveralls, A Christmas Story reference). Which brings me to the coldest moment of my life. One Mississippi morning it was about 12 degrees outside. It was cold enough to see your breath, and cold enough even to begin freezing over puddles, ponds, and small streams. There happened to be a creek that we needed to cross to get to our hunting spot that morning, but Dad had put an extension ladder across the creek so we could walk across and not get wet.

Only, he didn’t account for my coveralls. He walked across no problem, but I waddled about halfway across the creek and fell right in. I didn’t no how to swim, and as the water closed over me, I was sure I was done. I splashed around, trying to grab onto anything I could, screaming, “Help me! Save me Dad! I can’t swim!”. “Son, stand up!” he kept shouting. Finally he pulled me to my feet, and I realized the water wasn’t even knee-deep. Of course, I was soaking wet and it was 12 degrees outside, our day of hunting was cut short because we had to rush back home before I froze. But I didn’t drown!

In hindsight, I really should’ve known that I wasn’t drowning in that creek. I’d played in it before, and even if I hadn’t, I could feel the creek-bed while I was flailing around screaming. It should’ve been obvious. But sometimes, due to any number of reasons, we have a good habit of missing the obvious.

Big Letters

It’s that habit of missing the obvious that likely lead Paul to write the last part of this letter himself, apparently with some very large handwriting. Paul wanted to make sure his last few points absolutely couldn’t be missed, like a lit up billboard on the roadside. He wrote in big letters, and then, because that wasn’t enough, made sure to point out that he’d written in big letters. What he was about to say should’ve been obvious, but we have a good habit of missing the obvious.

Old and New

Fixated on the Past

When I fell into that creek, the only thing that was going through my mind were all the other times I’d fallen in water. I was so focused on that time I fell into the pool, or waded out just a little too deep in the lake, that I failed to see that this water was different. Likewise, the Jewish Christians causing trouble in Galatia were too focused on the way things were before that they missed something very obvious: Jesus had changed things. “For circumcision isn’t anything, nor is uncircumcision, but new creation!” Notice that Paul doesn’t say “circumcision doesn’t matter...”, he says “circumcision isn’t”. He’s not suggesting that the rules have been altered, but that they have been thrown out and rewritten. He’s saying that the old religion of circumcision and uncircumcision doesn’t exist, it’s no longer valid, it’s as good as gone. Jesus came, and now everything is different. Much like Peter on the mountain, these Jewish Christians were missing something that should’ve been obvious. The Judaizers were so concerned with the old ways that they missed what Jesus had done. Peter was so focused on Moses and Elijah that he missed the obvious: someone even greater had come!

It should be obvious! Why wouldn’t the Messiah change things? Why wouldn’t God becoming human change things? Could it even be possible that the death and resurrection would leave the old ways untouched? It should have been obvious! Jesus’s face lit up like the sun, his clothes were dazzling white, two of the most respected and holiest of prophets appeared on the mountaintop to speak to Jesus, the clouds thickened and a heavenly voice boomed, clearly this Jesus was someone of far greater importance than Peter could have imagined. But we humans have a good habit of missing the obvious.

And don’t think for a second, brothers and sisters, that we are immune to this! We too make a habit of missing the obvious. How often do we find ourselves living in the old ways? How often do we find ourselves following the ways of this world, caught up in envy, greed, lust, gluttony, sloth, wrath, or pride? And perhaps we have even been so bold as to excuse ourselves with that old lie, “I’m just a sinner,” as if Christ had not brought New Creation to us? The Devil parades around in our faces, leading our eyes astray, drawing us away from Christ descending with the heavens, and back to the World. We fixate on the passing things of this life, and lose sight of the New Creation being offered to us by Jesus Christ through the Holy spirit.

We delude ourselves with this too, thinking we can please God with these ill-gotten gains. Perhaps if we strive hard enough and become successful by worldly standards, this will be enough to reach heaven. Perhaps enough money, enough land and possessions, a perfect family, a good life according to the world, will give me grounds to boast before God and earn eternal life. Maybe if our church gets five more members, or we remodel the sanctuary, we have enough events and programs, then we will have reason to boast and please God.

Avoiding the Cross

This is an obvious lie, but a prevalent one. “May I have no cause for boasting except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world was crucified to me and I to the world.” There is but one way to Heaven: the cross of Jesus Christ. It’s so obvious. Like Paul’s big letters, God lifted his son upon the hill of Calvary, a billboard and sign for all the world to see, an banner that couldn’t be missed. But we have a good habit of missing the obvious, don’t we?

And why do we miss the obvious? Is it merely a fixation on the past? That is often how we miss the obvious cross of Jesus, but not why. Paul has a much more damning accusation against his opponents than that. The Judaizers in Galatia didn’t want to come to the obvious conclusion of the cross for two reasons: To “make a good showing”, and to avoid the persecution of the cross.

They wanted to “make a good showing in the flesh”, ευπροσωπεω, literally this means they wanted to “have a good face in front of people”. They avoided the obvious answer of the cross because they were more concerned with looking good in front of people than looking good in front of God. And we all know a thing or two about that, I’m sure! We buy nice cars and houses to “have a good face” in front of people. We tell inappropriate jokes and share gossip to “have a good face”. We want our kids to play the right sports, go to the right school, and wear the right clothes to “have a good face”. And very often we become so concerned with “having a good face” in front of other people that we never stop to think about whether this looks good to God.

But aside from “having a good face,” these people also wanted to avoid the persecution of the cross. The word for “persecution” here is διωκω. It can also just mean “to run”. We translate it as “persecute” because it can also mean that you’re making someone else run, you’re chasing them off or driving them away. This really goes hand in hand with “having a good face”. Because when you don’t play by the World’s rules, people often aren’t just indifferent, they drive you away, they persecute you. When you don’t have the right car, right house, right job, right kids, right jokes, or right gossip, you get excluded. You get left out. You get driven away. For the Judaizers, taking up the cross of Christ likely meant being shunned by both pagans and other Jews alike. Christians were not a very popular group back in the day. So they avoided the obvious cross of Jesus not only to “have a good face”, but also to avoid what happens when you don’t “have a good face”: persecution.

Christians in our society don’t have to worry as much about the same kind of persecutions as the Christians in Galatia. It was possible that those followers of Jesus would have been unable to buy groceries, to get jobs, to get homes, or to make any friends at all outside the Church, or even to be jailed, tortured, and executed for the cross. Some of our brothers and sisters still suffer such things for the cross, but not us. Still, we may get “driven away” for the cross. We may get passed up for promotions. We may not get to be a part of the ‘in’ crowd at work, or school, or in the neighborhood. We might not get invited to parties, events, and gatherings. We may be excluded because we won’t play the same game as the rest of the world, because we don’t “have a good face”. And even that lesser kind of persecution is often enough for us to turn a blind eye to the cross, and find reasons to miss the obvious.

Bearing Stigmata

“May I have no cause for boasting except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world was crucified to me and I to the world.” The truth is, while that “good face” may seem appealing now, it’s all an illusion. When Christ comes in final victory, it will not be our standing before the world that matters, but before God. Paul could say this quite confidently. He was not all talk, because, as he says, “ I bear the brands of Jesus on my body.” If someone were to question Paul’s loyalty to Christ and not the world, he could point to the visible wounds and scars that he bore for the name of Jesus. He could show them the mark left from the stoning he recieved after sharing the gospel, or the scars from shackles he wore after being imprisoned for the name of Jesus. Paul lived like someone for whom the world and its ways meant nothing. His eyes were set on Jesus, he lived as a New Creation.

These “brands”, or στιγματα in Greek, were often marks of shame. The word usually refers to a brand or tattoo put on someone to show to the public that they were a slave. But Paul was proud to be a salve of Christ, and did not hesitate to show off his many brand-marks. Not only his words, but his body was marked for Jesus.

How can someone live such a life? Is it really possible to be crucified to the world? Is it really possible to live a New Creation life in the present? Can our hearts really be so full of the love of Jesus that we not only put away having a “good face” in public, but even happily bear wounds on our bodies in his name? Many saints who came before us, Paul among them, are a clear sign that this is possible. We really can be a New Creation. We really can live for Jesus. Christian martyrs, the “brands” upon the body of the Church, are proof enough. The answer is simple and obvious, if we’ll only take the time to look: the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How can we be made anew? How can we be born again? How can we have new life? We must simply put off the old life. We must die. We must become crucified as Christ was crucified, to become dead to the world so that we can be alive in Jesus Christ. We have to disregard what this world finds valuable, worthy, and honorable, so that we can find what God finds valuable, worthy, and honorable. The Judaizers avoided the cross of Jesus because they feared its persecution. The truth is that bearing a cross does leave marks. Paul could show you many of them. But these are wounds that heal. This is a death that leads to new life. The marks we bear on our bodies are not marks of shame, but of glory and honor. The wounds we bear will be transformed. We will reap what we sow, and every wound we bear upon our bodies now will be a mark of glory on our heavenly bodies.