This week we focus on the Lenten theme of meditating on the wounds of Christ.
Words of Reflection
Yesterday we looked at the story of Thomas and his doubts that Jesus had really risen from the dead. As John (an eyewitness) tells the story, Thomas has a very distinct reaction when he finally is face-to-face with the risen Christ:
“Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”—John 20:28 (NRSV)
It is the wounds of Christ which prompt this reaction, because it is the wounds of Christ which convince Thomas that this is really Jesus, resurrected, alive, and with them. The nail marks on his hands and the wound in his side from the soldier’s sword become for Thomas an invitation to worship. These are the same marks Jesus shows to the disciples in another post-resurrection appearance, this one recorded by Luke:
“When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.”—Luke 24:40 (NIV)
It’s a telling thing that the resurrected body of Christ still bears the marks of his sacrifice. It may seem suprising, but it’s clear that the wounds of Jesus are an integral part of his identity as the risen One. As one pastor has put it:
“We might assume the Father would have chosen to remove the scars from his Son’s eternal glorified flesh, but scars were God’s idea to begin with. He made human skin to heal like this from significant injury. Some of our scars carry little meaning, but some have a lot to say, whether to our shame or to our glory, depending on the injury. That Luke and John testify so plainly to Jesus’s resurrection scars must mean they are not a defect, but a glory.”—David Mathis
The scars of Jesus are not a defect, but a glory. They can become for us, like for Thomas, an invitation to worship. As we remember the sacrifice they represent, we can’t help but fall before him with a cry of “My Lord and My God!” They are a reminder to us of how deeply we are loved, and how costly was our redemption. We do not worship a God who is distant and unknowable, we worship a risen Savior who has walked paths of suffering on our behalf, and who walks with us still.
As we approach Holy Week, let’s see in these coming days an opportunity to worship Jesus of the Scars.
Scripture for Meditation:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
—Galatians 1:3-5 (NIV)
Song: Jesus of the Scars
When skies grow dark and all we see are shadows
The road too rough the mountains rise too far
When pain runs deep and wounds cry out for answers
We come to you O Jesus of the Scars
What other god chose to be born in weakness
Knew toil and tears and felt our deepest woe
Then to a cross to bear our sin and sorrow
And so we worship you O Jesus of the scarsWhen nights are long and daylight weighs so heavy
Where can we go to ease the troubled mind
The Man of grief once crushed in dark Gethsemane
Says do not fear I’ll take you by the hand
Our wounds cry out
But yours will have the final word
And in your scars we glimpse our story’s end
O glorious Day death swallowed up in victory
For this we worship you O Jesus of the scarsWhen all is healed and every might have been will be
And every sad sad story comes untrue
When heaven’s love floods back
Through time and history
And all things lost and broken are made new
When clouds are gone and earth’s illusions disappear
When faith is sight and hope reality
We’ll see your face and nothing else will matter
And there we’ll worship you O Jesus of the scars
Graham Kendrick
© Make Way Music
Questions for Contemplation:
How do the wounds of Christ invite you to worship? Spend some time imagining each: his hands, his feet, his side, his head once crowned with thorns. What do each of these speak to you and how do they prompt you to give God glory, honor, and praise?
What does this lyric from the song say to you? How does it speak to your soul right now?
“Our wounds cry out but yours will have the final word.”
Spend some time in prayer of preparation for the upcoming remembrance of Holy Week. Ask the Holy Spirit to keep you aware of how Christ’s woundedness might be a place of worship for you and for others.