SUNDAY SERMON: A wound that time can’t heal

They say time heals all wounds. But you may have one of those wounds that time is never going to heal. PHOTO/ FILE

What you need to know:

  • Something of the same logic is contained in the words of St Paul in First Corinthians. The apostle speaks of his own experience of persecuting the Church at a time in his life when he did not know the truth about Jesus.
  • Therefore, he finds it only logical to excuse the other leaders of the Jewish people: “We speak of the mysterious wisdom of God: the wisdom that was hidden, which God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began. None of the rulers of the age recognised it. If they had recognised it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.”

They say time heals all wounds. But you may have one of those wounds that time is never going to heal. If I had to offer an example, what comes to mind are the wounds we have accidently inflicted on someone we love.

For instance, a parent who accidentally did harm to a child. How can such a wound heal when it is your own flesh and blood that has to suffer?

How can it heal when you must witness your child’s pain, night and day, knowing that you are the cause? It offers no relief to have someone try to console you: “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t do it on purpose. It was an accident.”

Something of the same logic is contained in the words of St Paul in First Corinthians. The apostle speaks of his own experience of persecuting the Church at a time in his life when he did not know the truth about Jesus. Therefore, he finds it only logical to excuse the other leaders of the Jewish people: “We speak of the mysterious wisdom of God: the wisdom that was hidden, which God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began. None of the rulers of the age recognised it. If they had recognised it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.”

 Christ himself was ready to excuse the people who crucified him. He was not only willing to forgive, as any man might forgive. He wanted them to receive divine pardon: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

This is why, in some sense, it is useless to complain about corruption, asking ourselves why some people continue to lie and cheat and steal. Perhaps in one or two cases, those guilty are determined to do evil.

If so, may God have mercy on such as these and lead them to be sorry for all the harm they are causing. But as far as I can tell from a distance, it seems to be a case of sheer ignorance.

The ones causing harm have no idea how much harm they are causing. It is a way of life they learned from childhood. They grew up in a culture of corruption. They cannot—envision any other way of using the authority entrusted to them. “Our turn to eat.”

We can only pray that the ones causing harm, like parents who have accidentally inflicted harm on their own children, will open their eyes to how much they are making everyone else suffer.

We can only hope that, when they do see it, they will try to repair the damage. In the meantime, as St Paul urged: “Respect to the one to whom respect is due, honour to the one to whom honour is due.”