“In this world you will have trouble…” Jesus
I am Jeff and I am scarred…
Wounded
Not the most comforting words found in RED in the good book, but as always with Jesus, they are honest. Those honest words were making one thing evident and clear to hearers that day, life is going to hurt you and leave you wounded. In the passing 2000 years, that promise remains true. We all end up hurt.
No matter whether you live 1 day or 100 years at some point in the journey life is going to sneak up from behind and shank you. You will one day be cut by life’s sharp edges. You will be scraped by its rough patches. And your nose will be bloodied by the punches it continues to throw.
Thanks for the comfort, Jeff. This is real pick me up post.
Well, Jesus essentially made you and I this promise: in this world you would get wounded. He was stating the obvious. I don’t think any of the twelve would have argued this point that day. They knew hurt, they knew sorrow, they knew grief. Jesus was just putting them on notice that it was coming. Jesus was telling his closest friends the world is going to wound you. And if you follow the stories of these men the wound up emotionally and physically cut open.
The crazier piece to the puzzle Jesus was painting is found in what he says next. “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world.” (emphasis mine).
If I were summing up the word that Christ so eloquently dripped to his friends it would be this: wounds tell the story of hurting, scars tell the story of healing.
Scarred
We all have a story of being wounded, but have you become scarred?
Scarred has a negative connotation in our society. As so delicately defined by that all reliable source Urban Dictionary to be scarred means to have lasting signs of damage. But in truth a scar is where a wound has healed. It is the visible symbol left on the skin of place where the wound no longer exists.
Wounds are the open places of hurt that still exist in your life. Wounds get pressed on and the bleeding reopens. Salt gets poured into that open wound, a burn sets in. When that wound heals, you are left with a scar.
When are left scarred, the pain of the wound has passed but the reminder of the healing remains.
At some point you have to become comfortable being scarred. Staying hidden never really brings healing. Healing arrives when the wounds of our life our laid before the healer. He is the one who takes the hurt and makes them scars.
Wounds tell the story of hurting, scars tell the story of healing.
Jesus Scars
The prophet Isaiah shared a glimpse of the cross for us when he said:
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
The apostle Thomas needed to see this for himself. While I firmly believe Thomas was a participant in the pain of Golgotha, he needed to see the wounds of the resurrected Jesus for himself.
Thomas said: But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Here is my tension with this story. I always presumed Jesus was still fleshy, ripped open and damaged. I saw Jesus as alive but wounded. Yet when I put that into the perspective that he was once dead and is now alive, why would God leave him wounded. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead surely had the power to take the wounds and make them scars. Thomas did not put his finger in the wound, Thomas felt the scar.
While he was wounded for our transgressions he was left scarred for our healing. The same power that has turned the wounded Jesus to a resurrected healer tells a scar story for our healing. His wounds were for our healing. His scars bring us new life. Jesus hands hold the scars telling a story for our healing.
Wounds tell the story of hurting, scars tell the story of healing.
In this world you will have trouble, end up hurting and wounded. And that tells one story. But if you allow the power of Christ to heal you what you end up with is a Scar Story. A scar is simply the place you can point to where you were once wounded but that same power that raised Christ has left you completely healed.
Wounds tell the story of hurting, scars tell the story of healing.
