Soul Scanner

Full-body scanners gaze beneath our clothing. God’s Word strips away our pretense to uncover our very essence. What then?

Been to the airport lately? Have you experienced a full-body scanner, the latest tool in the anti-terrorist arsenal? You step into a booth and, in the twinkling of a leering eye, you’re rendered naked as the day you were born. Officials assure us that “essential” parts of the anatomy will be modestly covered from the professional looker’s discerning glance, but because the last wanna-be bomber hid explosives in his underwear, that seems doubtful. The purpose of the full-body scanner, we’re told, is precisely that: to get a head-to-toe glimpse beneath people’s clothing without the time-consuming, litigation-prone hassle of a strip search.

What bothers people the most about this process? The idea that some stranger will see naked bits of our flesh? That the veil of privacy we desperately want to hold onto is literally stripped away? That we have no choice in the matter (if we want to fly, we have to subject ourselves to this invasive machine)?

All of us, even the most gregarious and outgoing among us, have some limits on how much of our unique and very personal selves we want to divulge. We regularly withhold thoughts, emotions and details about ourselves until a certain level of trust is established. And most of all, we want it to be our choice. “I’ll share with you when I’m good and ready, but not before.” The full-body scanner thrusts a forced, one-way intimacy on us that’s uncomfortable at best and useless at worst.

The airport scanners represent the valiant attempts of officials to keep the flying public safe. If they could develop a scanner that could probe passengers’ thoughts and intentions, they might have a better chance. We might be able to insist that someone’s body is clean and cleared for takeoff, but we can’t discern the motives and plans of those boarding. Airport officials would like to have what belongs only to God: complete understanding of another human being’s psyche. The scanner won’t provide that.

Someone will find a way to fool the machine. A terrorist will develop a technique to foil the intent of this device. One human can deceive another; it happens all the time.

We cannot avoid the gaze of God

But it’s another story altogether when we come under God’s fixed gaze.

Paul tells us that Christ is the judge of the living and the dead; we are all seen through Christ’s unflinching stare. As The Message more colorfully expresses it, “God is looking over your shoulder” (2 Timothy 4:1). Suddenly, it isn’t just what I might conceal in my pockets that should concern me but also the content of my heart and the labyrinth of my mind. “[T]he word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit” (Hebrews 4:12). Here’s an inside view, indeed; God has no need to judge the book by the cover because God sees beyond any façade we might offer.

This is a full soul scan, compliments of our Creator, and frankly, the view isn’t pretty. Christ is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart; he sees what we would desperately desire to hide from view — the prejudices, the fears, the envy, the lack of forgiveness, the inability to believe, the doubt, the anger.

And the list goes on.

The amazing grace comes when we aren’t pulled shamefully out of line, subjected to interrogation and designated a threat to God’s kingdom and the world around us. Christ sees our weakness, recognizes our failings and entrusts us with his most valuable gift — his Word. This isn’t because we’ve pulled a fast one on God; we haven’t somehow slipped through the line undetected and won God’s undeserved favor. Instead, God sees us down to the very marrow in our bones — the Transportation Security Administration should be so lucky — and, despite our multitudes of weaknesses, God entrusts us with the Scripture to share and proclaim. In fact, says Paul, it’s the Scripture that gives us the power and ability to discern “the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12) so we might become “equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17).

Paul assures us that Scripture will provide us fallible humans with the tools we need for the work to which God calls us. Contrary to rules that apply to people whiling away hours in airport lines, those who are engaged in life are encouraged to arm themselves well. And the best “weapon” we can choose is the Scripture. Pack this for your journey, Paul says, and you’ll need nothing more. The Scripture is one-size-fits-all.

Keep Scripture in your carry-on bag

As we venture out on this expedition called life, we would be well advised to tuck the Scripture in our carry-on bag. We won’t want to be far from the tools it provides. Paul “solemnly urge[s]” (2 Timothy 4:1) us to share the good news God offers. In order to do that, we must be well versed in God’s Word ourselves. This isn’t to say we need to be able to quote chapter and verse of the Bible; it’s too easy to encounter fast-talking preachers who can rattle off Scripture but who don’t appear to have been personally affected by the power of the Word. The words seem to go no further than their mouths and haven’t penetrated their hearts.

When we allow the power of the Scripture to seep into our lives, we can take the words to heart and allow them to scan our souls. Scripture, Paul tells us, is “useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). We would do well to familiarize ourselves with the life-giving properties of the law and the gospel — not out of a sense of obligation or guilt but because new life and encouragement are found there. Psalm 119 — all 176 verses of it — emphasizes the benefit of immersing ourselves in God’s Word. The psalmist calls attention to the value of Scripture: “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (v. 72).

Use Scripture to scan yourself, not others

The Scripture can “convince, rebuke, and encourage,” and yet we need to be cautious with how we use it. We aren’t supposed to aim it as a weapon against others but rather turn it first relentlessly on ourselves. Before we point out the speck in our neighbor’s eye, we need to take care of the log in our own — and the best way to do that is to allow our lives to be put under the microscope of the Word’s instruction. When we’re scanned through the lens of Scripture, what will we see?

The wisdom, history and parables recorded for us can instruct us in interpersonal relations, common law, fairness, compassion and guidelines for living in community. There we can find justice without vengeance, correction without vindictiveness, and a willingness to expand the boundaries of accepted prejudices and constraints. The underlying message is one of forgiveness, fairness and, above all, love. When we sin, God’s Word encourages us to confess and repent. We may be punished — there are consequences for our actions — yet when we repent, we won’t be cut off. With God’s help, we can change, turn around and, guided by God’s love, begin again. It’s a message of redemption that’s needed in our own lives and in the world around us.

It’s an invitation to spend more time with God’s Word and allow the power of God’s wisdom to seep into our thoughts and reflections as in the practice of “lectio divina,” or holy reading. We can trust that the power of the Holy Spirit can speak to us through God’s Word if we’re willing to take the time to pause, ponder and consider what God is saying. Lectio divina encourages a thoughtful consideration of a passage. If a word or phrase “jumps out” at us, then we should stop and ask questions: What is it about those words that speaks to me? How does that relate to my current life situation? Is this passage calling me to action, repentance, forgiveness? Scripture has the power to see beyond the strong, capable image we like to portray to the world and instead

can encourage us to receive God’s gentle teachings.

It’s a soul scanner.


Possible Preaching Themes:

• Encourage parishioners to spend a week reading one Bible passage daily to see how it speaks to them.

• Consider telling familiar parables. Allow those simple stories to “teach, correct and train.”

• Practice lectio divina in a sermon by asking questions of the Scripture, verse by verse.


Participation Pointers:

• Jeanne Harvey Duncan suggests that a chancel drama be written and prepared enacting the scanning metaphor. She also refers us to last year’s film, Avatar, in which the young man, Sully, takes his brother’s place and has the ability to see himself in new ways.


Sources:

“Additional airports to get full-body scanners, feds say.” March 7, 2010. cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/03/05/body.scanners-airports/index.html.

Easton, Kit. “Full-body scanners at airports: The good, the bad, and the ugly.” December 30, 2009. fastcompany.com/blog/kit-eaton/technomix/full-body-scanners-airports-good-bad-and-ugly.


FILM CLIP IDEA

October 17, 2010

The Text: 2 Timothy 3:14–4:5.

The Movie: Cold Souls, in which an actor (Paul Giamatti, playing himself) has his soul extracted, only to find it’s the size of a pea.

The Scene: In which the actor goes to the high-tech soul-freezing company to have his existential angst relieved.

Music Links

Hymns

O Word of God Incarnate

Break Thou the Bread of Life

Blessed Jesus, at Your Word


Praise

Come, Now Is the Time to Worship

Thy Word

I Will Hide Your Word in My Heart