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the BROKEN BODY Jean Vanier |
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Easter Home Study 2005... May 10 – approaching Pentecost – the Feast of Weeks
John 20:19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (New Revised Standard Version)
‘He had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.’
It was through his littleness and pain, his brokenness and death, that Jesus had saved them, by conquering sin and death and the power of the Evil One. He had overcome violence, not by shunning or ignoring it, but by receiving it and then transforming it into tenderness and forgiveness.
By his broken body, we, the body of humanity, are made whole, whoever we are and wherever we are, whatever our doubts or shame, our turmoil or anger. We are healed and can come together in the fullness of the Body of Christ.
He has penetrated into the depths of darkness, loneliness, rejection, agony and fear, in order to touch the depths of darkness in each one of us and to call us to belief, to call us to walk in this world of darkness, loneliness, rejection, agony and fear – hoping, trusting in the resurrection. Page 59f.
of those who share their lives: to forgive each day, to forgive and forgive and forgive, and to be forgiven just as many times . . .
Forgiveness is the cement that bonds us together: it is the source of unity; it is the quality of love; that draws togetherness out of separation.
Forgiveness is understanding and holding the pain of another; it is compassion.
Forgiveness is the acceptance of our own brokenness, yours and mine.
Forgiveness is letting go of unrealistic expectations of others and of the desire that they be other than they are.
Forgiveness is liberating others to be themselves, not making them feel guilty for what may have been.
Forgiveness is to help people flower, bear fruit, and discover their own beauty.
Forgiveness does not need the drama of tears and emotional hugging. It is a simple gesture, signifying that we are together, part of the one body, called by Jesus in a covenant with one another.
Forgiveness is peace‑making: struggling to create unity, to build one body, to heal the broken body of humanity.
Forgiveness is to follow Jesus, to be like him, for he came to give and to forgive, to take from the shoulders of people the yoke of guilt that locks them into a prison of sadness and sterility, and prevents them from flowing and living freely. Page 106f.
the words of Jesus, ‘Love your enemies,’ are a promise: ‘I will give you my spirit to do what you cannot do by yourself.’ ‘I will teach you compassion, how to love and forgive those who hurt you, who criticize you behind your back, who limit your freedom, who prevent you from living, who reject you, who abandon you, who stifle you, who slap you in the face.’ With Jesus the impossible becomes possible. Page 109.
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