Foretaste of the Sermon to Come
A little nibble of the Revised Common Lectionary
Sunday’s scriptures are Psalm 16, 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31
My cousin posted something gorgeous and profound on Facebook this week, mourning the anniversary of her dad’s death two years ago and dealing with her mom’s sudden and serious decline in health. All of this in the middle of a very busy life with its routine stressors. She said, “In the middle of everything I felt the peace that only a Man of Sorrows and a God with scars can provide”.
I don’t want anyone to see my scars. The 6-inch scars on both knees from my joint replacements. My messy house. My 2-month old pedicure. The shadowy dark corners of my heart. But Jesus was happy to show his scars because he knew it’s what Thomas needed in order to recognize him and know that he was the real Jesus. Sharing our scars can scare us, but it can also bring us closer in our relationships. Think about your own skin as you bathe it, treat it for infirmity, maybe even hide it. Think about Mary anointing Jesus’ feet before they were ruined by the spikes driven through them. Think about the wounds in his skin from the flogging and the crucifixion and think about why he wanted Thomas to see them and how it blessed Thomas into recognizing exactly who Jesus is. Think about Jesus’ torn, and vulnerable skin and why a deity would be willing to take on the agony of the human condition. When you touch your skin, or the skin of a dear one, imagine you’re ministering to his. Or imagine he’s caring for yours. There’s no recoil, no disgust…only compassion and love.
We don’t have to share our marks and pain with everyone, but just like Jesus, sharing them can be a blessing to others, help them know us better, and accepting them can bring us peace. Jesus’ resurrection didn’t reverse the marks of his torture, it didn’t undo what happened to him. In fact, what happened to him is an integral part of his story. The resurrection we experience after confessing our sin and receiving absolution doesn’t make us forget what we did or what someone did to us, but it puts our experience in its place. It’s part of our story, but it doesn’t define us in our new Easter life.
Sharing our stories can show others that we understand what they are going through, that we might be Christians, but we are real people who know a thing or two about scars and pain. Jesus understood that we finite humans need a God we can relate to, a God who knows a thing or two about scars and pain. A God who bears our scars and sorrows. A God who bears them in his humanity so we can relate to his suffering and know that he understands ours in return. A God who bears them by putting them to death in his own body after we confess our sins. A God who bears them because by them, we know who he is. John wrote about signs such as Jesus’ revelation to Thomas so that you may believe that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Thank you Jesus.
