Eternal Wounds

WRITTEN BY DREW MATZ

The Everlasting Scars of God

As the dawn sun breaks over the horizon, three women are making their way outside of Jerusalem.

Three days earlier, their teacher and friend suffered a terrible fate. On the eve of the Passover, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified on a Roman cross. Through tears they watched their friend and teacher helplessly slain as their anticipation of a restored and glorified Israel was crushed under the weight of what their eyes witnessed. The man they hoped was the holy one of God is now hanging on the tree.

For a hanged man is cursed by God – says Moses.

The word of God had spoken. This man suffered the curse of God’s law – stricken, smitten, and afflicted. As far as any Israelite was concerned, all hope was lost for the idea of Jesus as the long awaited king of Israel. His disciples? They all forsook him and fled (Mark 14:50).

As was custom for all Jews, the women took spices to anoint the body of Jesus at daylight on the first day of the week. As they approach the tomb with eyes red with grief, they look up to find something inexplicable. The massive stone is rolled away. His tomb is unsealed as the light of the morning sun reveals the impossible. There is no body – only the white linen that clothed their master as he was laid to rest. A fire was just beginning in their grief-stricken hearts as a confused medley of wonder and hope began to kindle.

Luke’s account gives us the answer to the question of what was happening:

While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Luke 24:1-9

Imagine being told the impossible had occurred – twice. The Messiah wasn’t supposed to be killed in the first place, and now he is risen from the dead? One could sympathize with the apostles’ initial disbelief. Although Jesus had taught them what was to occur, their minds and hearts were yet to be illumined:

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:27

Easter is the day the Church celebrates her risen Lord. His resurrection has destroyed the bands of death and have set free those ensnared by sin and the evil one. Jerusalem finally has its miraculous sign – the sign of Jonah. Christ is risen from the dead in a glorified body – a body incorruptible and perfect – on the third day.

As Luke walks us through that first Easter morning, we notice his risen body is not a new body created from nothing. It is the same body he had on the cross. It is the one that changed water to wine and raised the dead. Though he is now radiant with the light of God, he still bears the scars of his passion. His hands and side still testify to the astonishing love he has for us. Even risen from the dead, he remains the crucified one.

As a wounded soldier boasts of the battle scars he earned for love of his people, so also does Jesus continue to bear the wounds of his ministry. What sinful men meant as wounds of evil have been transformed by our God into wounds of love - wounds that assure us, wounds that comfort, wounds that create faith. Just as he does with Thomas, he meets us where we are. He invites us to examine his hands and his feet, to notice his side where he was pierced through for our transgressions. He invites us to cast off doubt, and to believe.

As we rejoice in our victorious Lord, let us notice that despite being radiant with divinity, he eternally bears the wounds of his love. Let us remember that he is not absent in our suffering, but our suffering is a way in which we are forever brought into communion with him – and one another. The wounds you receive in this life are not in vain, but will be transformed. Because he is risen from the dead, we too will rise from the dead in a glorified body like his – a body that will never die because of the eternal wounds of our God.

Christ is risen, he is risen indeed! Alleluia!