Paul Cowan is our guest blogger this week.
And another thing . . . scars
And another thing . . . scars
Dave Mullins spoke Sunday about
scars. Scars can be useful as reminders
of situations we have faced in our past and pain we have been through. Scars can disfigure us and scars can change
us. Scars take us back to instances we
might not want to relive. Yet there is a certain hope we can find in
scar tissue that simple wounds do not yet provide. Something Dave said about scars and
especially the scars that grace the body of Jesus struck me as incredibly
profound. Scars mean healing. And healing means life.
The scars that I carry on my physical
body are manifestations of injuries and wounds that have healed. The only way these wounds could heal is by my
continued life. Cut flesh fuses back
together and scabs slough off to reveal healed (if not perfectly restored) skin
beneath. The mark left behind is the
reminder alluded to earlier, but the skin will function again as before. In the instance of fractured bones, the very
act of healing can leave the bone stronger than it was before the break; a
powerful metaphor which can be applied to ourselves as we are refined by the
inevitable fires of life.
In the case of our Savior Jesus Christ,
scars He chose to leave on his body represent the same healing and even more
importantly, life. Without Jesus' scars
it would just be too easy to dismiss (as many continue to do to this day) the
resurrection as simply a reappearance of the Lord in spirit form, and not a
literal resurrection of the body. But
what would this mean for us as Christians?
Without the physical resurrection, what hope do we have for
ourselves? What hope for salvation? What hope for a future spent in the presence
of the Living God? For without physical
resurrection, what Living God would there be?
(I don't mean to imply this is the only reason for the continued
presence of scars on the resurrected body of Jesus, but simply that I believe
this is at least one reason.)
We have faith and hope because we have
heard testimony as to the scars on Jesus' body.
Spirits do not have scars. For
spirits do not require healing. Only a
body has scars and only a body which continues to live or is born again. That makes me place a certain value on scars
that is not only more than what I would ever have thought, but frankly is not
something I had every thought about in the first place.
As we have discussed before, many of us
have scars. There are physical scars
from accidents with bicycles, skateboards, cars, knives, asphalt, rocks,
augers, and anything else we could think of that is even remotely sharp or
abrasive. There are also emotional scars
from childhood and throughout life since.
For some of us they are too numerous to mention. And while most of us don't have open physical
wounds, many of us still have deep, open, gaping holes in our spirit that have
yet to heal and form their own scars. It
is such a blessing to know that our Savior, who became flesh for us, can relate
to our wounds in both physical and emotional form. He experienced both and overcame them both.
As well, if we remain in Him, He will be faithful to help us to do the
same! (John 16:33)
And that is all I have to say about that . . . for now.
