Sunday, March 31
Readings: JOS 5:9A, 10-12; 2 COR 5:17-21; LK 15:1-3, 11-32
Today’s readings remind me of what goes in to healing from difficult events.
In the first reading from Joshua, the Israelites are finally “stable” and settled in their new land. God says, “Today, I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.”
I had to look up what it meant just to be sure…
In the biblical sense, reproach refers to the shame and disgrace caused by an event. In this case, the Israelites had endured the shame and disgrace of slavery and then the shame of wandering in the desert for so long. They had not been able to perform all of the rituals and community practices that made them whole. These had been ripped from them by the horrors of slavery and then the experience in the desert.
I also did a little research and found that the word used for “removing” reproach in Hebrew is the word “rolled away.” (this actually got me wondering about Jesus’ tomb stone that was “rolled away” as well, but I digress…) This word also has at its root the word for “diaspora” – which are people removed from their original homeland.
In modern language, we call this experience trauma, and we can experience trauma at a personal and collective level. Trauma separates us from what centers us and impacts our sense of safety. It can break fundamental connections that we have with our own bodies, with the earth, with each other and with our cultural traditions. It can set in motion certain patterns of behavior and reactivity that can also further damage our connections.
In the gospel (which we reflected upon on March 23), the young son goes off to a foreign land and himself endures some trauma. He then desires to return home and reconnect with his family, his roots. In so many ways, I see this as the pattern of healing. We seek to reconnect with what is deepest in us and return to a wholeness. We want to be, as Paul says, a “new creation.”
Nearly everyone has been through some kind of trauma. And yet certain groups and certain individuals have endured much more than others, in part, due to historical, economic and political factors. If we’re going to heal from the hardships we have endured – personally and collectively – it is really important for us to do the work that is required and attend to healing. This can take many forms – from therapy to recovery, from changing our diet to going out dancing. Returning to deep cultural practices (like the Passover) can certainly be part of that healing as well and can restore our sense of safety and familiarity.
Just as God sustained Israel in the desert with manna until they had arrived and had their own food again, so, too, God has sustained us through whatever we have been through. It may not always have been what we wanted, but it got us to this point.
Take stock of how you are today. Check in with yourself about what might need healing – personally and in your wider spheres (Like family, culture, etc.). Breathe in goodness and release the pain. Let God help you remove the reproach of what has harmed you.