After His resurrection, Jesus still had His scars, and He displayed them with pride and confidence. He understood that God often leaves the scars of our past wounds as evidence of His power.
Scars can be one of Satan’s favorite deceptions. He likes to make us believe that the scars of our past are ugly and deforming. So, we try our best to disguise our wounds so we will look like the “normal” people. But no one is normal. Each person has their own struggles, and many are fighting the same battle that we are fighting. In God’s plan, the scars we may try to hide are actually undeniable evidence of the depths of our depravity and the sign to a broken world that we’ve been healed; that we are a life resurrected by God’s grace.
I’ve often wondered what our resurrected bodies will be like. Will we be young? Will we be thin? Will we still be bald? Fact is, there are a lot of unanswered questions that won’t be resolved until we stand before the Lord. But we can study what the Scripture says about our Lord’s resurrected body. Jesus ate and drank. He could appear and disappear. Sometimes He was in disguise, and people didn’t recognize Him. But has it dawned on you that Jesus’ resurrected body was healed, but He still had the scars from the cross?
Why did Jesus have scars? Jesus is the Almighty God, so He could have easily taken them all away. He could have decided to cover over the wounds with new flesh and made His body exactly as it was before His crucifixion, or even better. But, He didn’t. Notice the exchange between Jesus and Thomas in John 20:24-27 when Jesus appeared after the resurrection.
“But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be unto you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing…”
What Jesus did on the cross would still be valid whether He had scars or not. But could it be that the scars were left to testify to the work of Christ? Could it be that those scars are there for all like Thomas who need a little more prompting to believe?
We Also Have Scars.
Jesus said anyone who follows Him must follow Him in death. We must pick up our own cross. We may not have physical wounds in our hands and feet, but our sin and rebellion against God can leave painful gashes in our hearts and souls. Some people are more mangled than others by a vicious past. But through Christ, the most severe injuries are mended, and with that renewal comes a story, a story of what God has done.
Think of the value that eyewitnesses hold in a court room. They often have enough influence to determine a person’s judicial fate. In the same way, the personal first-hand account of how Christ healed your life is a word of great persuasion. Never underestimate the power of your testimony. It was the evidence that Thomas believed. Even though Jesus was standing before him, even though the others told him about seeing Jesus, it was the scars that convinced Thomas that the man who stood before him truly was Jesus and not an imposter.
Revelation 12:11 says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Satan knows that the stories behind our scars can destroy his work. That’s why he deceives and shames us into hiding them. Jesus displayed his scars with confidence, not disgrace. He knew what those scars represented. They represented healing, salvation, and peace between God and man. They also represented defeat for the kingdom of darkness.
We’re All Still Struggling
Of course, you might be thinking, “My scars are still healing. I still struggle every single day.” That may be true. We all have a lot of spiritual growing to do. Actually, there may even be a few additional scars in our future. The good news is that each new scar might give us a unique opportunity to reach someone else. Hebrews 12:11 says, “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
As we await to see in what new direction we may have to carry our cross, use what God has already brought you through to encourage others. II Corinthians 1:4 reminds us that God “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” God doesn’t need you to be perfect. He just needs you to be willing to use your scars to tell your spiritual story to anyone who is willing to listen.
An Easter Challenge
As Easter approaches, I would like to challenge you to think about your own scars, think of the ways you can use your testimony to share your own journey from death into life. There are others who are going through similar circumstances. They need your encouragement and words of hope. But that means you must be willing to speak about the circumstances you may have tried to hide in the past.
Have you been through a difficult marriage and come out stronger on the other side? Did you have an abortion in the past and find forgiveness through Christ? You could even write an article for PathPointe, and it can reach thousands through the magazine or website. Could that be a ministry for you? If Jesus can take a cross; a symbol of death for the cursed and turn it into a symbol of life for the saints, then He can do the same for anyone.
As you travel on this journey through the valley of the shadow of death, may God lead you to others who are traveling the same pathway. Then you can use your scars to show them how our Lord brought you through.
Dr. Worthington has been in the ministry for over forty years and serves as President of Pathway Ministries and Christian Bible College.