By: Obed Pineda
Many moons ago when I was a young toddler, of about two or three years of age, I sat atop a table inside a laundromat where my beautiful, beloved mother folded freshly washed clothes. It had been a very cold day and she had sat me near the automatic dryers so that their warmth would keep me from being too cold, but also near her. As I sat there, eating a small bag of chips, a little girl slightly older than I become intrigued with me and wanted to carry me. My mom, like any responsible mother would, kindly told the little girl that it was too dangerous because she could hurt herself because she was still too little to carry me and could also drop me onto the hard floor. She, however, insisted that she was strong enough to carry me and not drop me, but my mother once again gently refused. This agitated the little girl very much, and in retaliation scratched my face under my left eye. Undoubtedly, I was much too young to vividly remember, several years later, all of the details that can corroborate my mother’s tale of what happened that cold day at the laundromat, and yet every time I look at my reflection, there is the small, faint scar under my left eye. Although I am unable to know for certain if the story happened exactly as she would tell it, the scar under my eye verifies that something did indeed take place at some point in my life when I was very young. Curiously, where my memory fails to serve as my mother’s witness, my scar steps in to “testify” on her behalf, much in the same way an old battle wound supports a soldier’s claim of having fought valiantly in battle. It is fascinating that while for some scars are badges of honor, for others they are blemishes of shame. Whatever the case may be, it is evident that a scar’s purpose is to serve as a reminder and to verify that an event did transpired in a person’s life; whether honorable or dishonorable. Thus, it makes great sense that the apostle Paul would call upon the numerous scars that marked his body, to prove to the church at Corinth just how much he loved the Lord Jesus Christ and His church. The inspired amanuensis writes, “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2nd Corinthians 4:8-10, emphasis added). It is important to remember that this epistle is very unique to the others Paul had penned particularly because it allows the reader a rare, intimate glimpse of Paul’s human vulnerability. It is very common to imagine the great apostle to the Gentiles as a fearless, valiant warrior with a resolve of iron who once manifested to the Corinthians, “I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily…I have fought with beasts at Ephesus” (1st Corinthians 15:31, 32 emphasis added). There is much speculation as to what manner of beasts the apostle refers to in the pericope, but what is certain is that he was submitting to the Corinthians that the conviction of his faith in the resurrection of Christ and the dead could not be denied due to those scars that validated the daily persecution he endured for preaching the Gospel of Christ. Yet, even though he was stating something similar in his second Corinthian epistle, it is undeniable that the tone is much softer, painting an older, seasoned veteran worn down by the tides of spiritual warfare, but never willing to cease fighting the good fight. The key difference between both sacred passages is that in the first he was reprimanding and correcting a false doctrine seeking to destroy the essence of Christ’s sacrifice for humanity, and in the second he strives to amplify the beauty of God’s glory and salvation. Observe how in both instances, Paul makes a majestic use of his hardships. The plethora of scars that mapped his body, Paul was able to use as the proverbial chisel to chip away the dross of uncertainty and mold the faith of his cherished brethren in the faith. When he exhorted his young apprentice Timothy, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” it was impossible for Timothy to argue against the apostle whom he had witnessed unjustly beaten with rods, publicly, and imprisoned “into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks” (2nd Timothy 2:3, Acts 16:16-24). Paul’s sage understanding of what purpose scars served in the human body, he transformed into a mighty tool of encouragement and fortification of his fellow brothers and sisters through Christ Jesus. What disciple in Lystra would soon forget his passionate appeal that “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” after having been brutally stoned and dragged out of the city, “supposing him to be dead…when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city” (Acts 16:22b, 19-20). Verily, the apostle Paul knew too well that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” and had the scars to collaborate his affirmation. Nevertheless, earlier in this treatise we mentioned that scars can also recount the tale of shame of a person. Paul was no exception, for not all his wounds were badges of honor. Following his strategy of using the marks of his flesh as life lessons to his brethren, Paul did not veil the wounds of his heart that served him as a reminder of a time when he was warned from heaven, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 9:5b, emphasis added). While alive, Paul always carried the burden of guilt wherever he went. There is no doubt that his scars from “kicking against the goads” where marks he was not proud of since he expresses about himself, “then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1st Corinthians 15:8-9, emphasis added). Of the many wounds of honor that were inflicted upon his body by others for the sake of the Church, there is little to no doubt that the scar that Paul focused the most on was the one that came to be by his own hand as a result of his eschewed judgment of what the will of God was. No matter how many more scars from rods, whips, stones, and beatings were made on his body, that one scar of guilt on his heart and soul from persecuting the church in his earlier days always served him as a reminder that “by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I, labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1st Corinthians 15:10, emphasis added). Thus, the apostle Paul used this constant reminder of his wicked choice as life lesson to share as a story of caution against resisting God’s will, but also as validation of God’s everlasting grace. The apostle wisely emulated the Master in taking an emblem of dread and dishonor and transformed it into an insignia of motivation and hope. Paul understood well that when his memory failed to remind him of his choices, good or bad, his scars would be there to restore those precious life lessons.