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Sermon by Veronica Aryeequaye, OSH |
The Scars of Life
Give us ears, O God, to hear you, hearts to receive you, minds to understand your Will for us and the will to desire you. Amen.
My nephew who was in the military told us that when he was enrolling into the Navy, he was given a physical medical examination. He said that the guy in front of him was asked if he had any scars or identifying marks on his body. He answered, "No."
The medic at the table, with much surprise, said, "Boy, everybody has some scars or other identifying marks. You better tell me yours or I’ll have to take you outside and give you some!" Suddenly the guy remembered a scar or two he had.
The medic was right, of course. It seems that everyone has a scar or two and a story to tell about them. Some scars are visible and some not so much visible. The more invisible the scar is, the more painful memories they bring, and their stories, so bitter to recall. Some of the stories are great and some simply teach us lessons about life.
I have two visible scars and the one I see everyday reminds me of some hard things about my life. I know you have yours too but we’re not going to share them yet.
In the movie, Jaws, three men are out at sea searching for the Great White Shark that was eating men. During a break in their search, they find themselves sharing horror stories over coffee. Each one showed a scar and each one tried to one up the other. One of the characters has scars from the war; another has scars from a previous shark attack. The character played by Richard Dreyfus rips open his shirt and points to his chest without speaking a word. And I didn’t see anything there! But one of the actors asked, "What? A Bypass surgery?"
"No," Dreyfus answers, "Betty Sue, 7th grade. She broke my heart."
In the Gospel reading for today, Thomas demands to see the scars that would make him recognize Jesus. At least he was either there at the crucifixion or might have heard by then, how the soldiers had nailed his hands and pierced his sides. He knew that both nails and spear would leave some scar evidence to make him identify the one who seemed to have been appearing and disappearing among the disciples. He demanded to see what would make him know it was Jesus and not someone impersonating the Lord. For me, he did not doubt the power of resurrection but wanted to be sure he knew what he was going to witness about. If Thomas was an American, he would have been from Missouri, the “Show me” state. He would not simply accept what he was being told by the rest without him being a witness to it. How could it be that Jesus only visited when he was away? It’s been a week since the resurrection, remember! Let’s give the guy some credit for what he stood up for! I think his response was honest and sincere. He has "got to see it to believe it" attitude. A lot of us have that too!
Thomas looks at the other disciples and says, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." So it’s not simply a “see to believe” thing but to “feel to believe”.
What do these scars mean?
For Thomas, it serves as a proof of a Resurrected Body.
Thomas’ nickname, the "Doubting One", I think was earned out of his natural human feeling of doubt about something that had never happened before and therefore had every right to doubt. "Unless I see the scars...I won’t believe," says Thomas.
Actually, it would have been unacceptable for Thomas to have done anything else but express doubts.
After the Resurrection, God made sure that people served as actual witnesses who saw with their own eyes and felt with their own hands the risen Saviour. Even though Jesus later pronounced a blessing for those who believe without seeing, I think it was important that there was somebody like Thomas who could express doubt and demand evidence, and once confronted with that evidence, to believe.
These scars became part of the fabric of evidence that the Resurrection was not a rumor or a fantasy of imagination brought about by grief and denial. The Resurrection was real. It was an evidence of the fact that Jesus rose from the dead as human as He was before His crucifixion. His Christhood had nothing to do with his humanhood. He rose from the dead just as he was buried. He did not change in nature or in rank.
To Thomas, that is what the scars of Jesus meant -- the Resurrection is real!
What do these scars mean to us?
For me, it serves as a reminder of the humanity of Christ. He was Christ before and after the crucifixion. It may have a different meaning to you but it does not change the fact that Jesus still bears them to remind him of his sufferings.
There is something about scars that seems to make a person "very human".
We are sometimes apprehensive about people who seem to be "too perfect"; about children who grow up with only soft knees, about teenagers who don’t show any signs of acne, about models whose hair is perfect the moment they step out of the surf, about people who are in their "twilight years" and who have no signs of graying hair or wrinkling faces.
There is something about our scars that make us real, believable, and trustworthy.
Maybe it is because we know that life hands out its damaging blows to all people of all ages, of all backgrounds.
It is easy for us to accept the divinity of Christ, and forget his humanity. But at least the scars reaffirm Christ as both divine and human, even after His resurrection.
Peter in the epistle writes that God has given us hope through Christ’s resurrection into an imperishable inheritance that is undefiled and unfading, earned with the scars of Jesus.
Those scars confirm to us that Jesus remains human, just as he remains divine.
Those scars remind us that Jesus felt pain, just as we feel pain.
Those scars remind us that Jesus suffered, just as we suffer.
To Thomas, the scars meant evidence of the Resurrection.
To us, the scars remind us of the humanity of Christ.
But what do these scars mean to Jesus?
Isn’t it amazing that, in whatever occurred at the time of the resurrection the scars were NOT eliminated? They remained. They are still there.
We have a permanently scarred God. And he comes scarred, to be with us with whatever pain or hurt we bear, with whatever wounds we carry, and with whatever doubts we harbor.
Isn’t that incredible? Isn’t that an amazing demonstration of God’s love for us? That He would continue to carry the scars, the reminders of the pain and humiliation He went through?
Think about what it means for Christ to have scars on his hands.
Our hands are the one part of our body that is almost in constant view. We can’t see our ears unless we look in the mirror. We see our feet if we intentionally look down. But our hands are almost always before us. No matter what we do, we usually see our hands as we do it.
Now what does Jesus see when He reaches out His hands for us? He sees the scars on his hands...
When Jesus reaches out to bless or comfort, He sees the scars on his hands.
When Jesus reaches out to receive us, He sees his scars.
Thomas needed to see the scars in Christ’s hands.
Those scars remind us of the humanity of Christ. Those scars remind Christ of his love for us.
And if, when Jesus reaches out to judge, He sees the scars on his hands.
The scars serve as the bow of a covenant between God and all humanity.