When I was in my forties, several years after my dad died, I was visiting my mother in my childhood home near Cleveland. Out of the blue, she said to me: “You know you have scoliosis.”
But I did not know I had scoliosis. No one had ever told me, and I did not think to ask when she learned I had scoliosis. It had to have been when I was a child or a teen. How could I live for 40-something years and never know I was … crooked?
My primary physician recently referred me to a Doctor of Physical Therapy for a back problem. At our initial meeting, he asked me questions about pain and limitations and took various measurements. At one point, he said casually, “Of course, you have scoliosis.” He could tell that just by looking at me. Later, he told me that one of my legs was longer than the other, something else I had never known.
I did know that my belly button does not line up with the center of my breastbone. And I knew, from seeing my shadow on the road in front of me on our early morning walks, that I habitually lean my head to the right. Those things made sense once I understood that I had scoliosis.
Scoliosis is a condition in which the spine does not run up and down in a straight line but curves from side to side. The scoliosis in my spine is, thankfully, mild, but it is severe for some people. I have a sister-in-law whose respiratory and digestive systems were compromised by the curving and/or twisting of her spine. She went through a difficult, many hours-long surgery and a long period of recuperation in the hope of relieving the negative health impacts she suffered because of it.
The word “scoliosis” is Greek and means “bent,” “twisted,” or “crooked.” It appears four times in the Greek New Testament and another 28 times (in both noun and verb forms) in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It refers to crooked ways and roads, crooked generations, and crooked masters/employers.
“Crooked” has become a generic term for someone who acts with immoral or criminal intent, Hence Richard Nixon’s famous line, “I am not a crook!” He was responding to accusations that he had used his office to benefit financially, and not to accusations regarding the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up. The original idea of being crooked, out of alignment, and twisted has been replaced by the idea of being criminal. That is unfortunate. If I think of “crooked” as “criminal,” I can miss the fact that I am misshapen in a way that negatively impacts my life.
Spiritual scoliosis causes a loss of moral balance. That is certainly apparent in our society, where people are quick to accuse or quick to defend their own or others’ actions based on which way the scoliosis has them leaning.
From the biblical writers’ perspective, we are all “crooks,” which is to say, we are all crooked, bent away from what is good, and out of alignment with God. This bend, theologians tell us, happened when Adam, the head and representative of our race, rebelled against God. When he fell, his children were left bent and slanted away from God.
The results are sometimes more apparent in one generation than another, just as scoliosis can be more apparent in one person than another. Moses (Deuteronomy 32:5), Peter (Acts 2:40) and Paul (Philippians 2:15) all believed they were living in a “crooked” generation. I wonder what they might think of ours?
Spinal scoliosis causes me to tilt my head in one direction. Spiritual scoliosis does something similar. In my case, I realized years ago, without knowing why, that I looked at one half the congregation much more than the other when I preached. It was not because I liked them better (or less!) but because my spine is crooked, one leg is slightly longer than the other, and my head naturally tilts to one side.
Spiritual scoliosis makes people look away from God and prevents them from truly seeing one another. It encourages people to focus on the wrong things, and they may never know why. This results in broken relationships, damaged souls, and impoverished spirits.
Spiritual scoliosis causes a loss of moral balance. That is certainly apparent in our society, where people are quick to accuse or quick to defend their own or others’ actions based on which way the scoliosis has them leaning. They look at their neighbor and can see that she leans, but they do not realize they are leaning just as much, only in the opposite direction.
What if we could be made straight again, as on one Sabbath Day in the synagogue, Jesus made a poor, bent, and suffering woman, straight? Is it possible? I think it is, but the process takes time—a lifetime, to be exact. To correct it all at once would be too painful; we might not even survive the procedure. But there is a program, a plan, designed by God, followed by us, and energized by the Holy Spirit to straighten us out. And even if my spiritual spine cannot be entirely straightened in this life, it can be much straighter (to my great relief), and the resurrection will finally and perfectly complete the work.
The Way Home 
Leave a comment