Show Them Your Wounds

Wounds are evidence of life, or at least of having lived, and, at best, of being alive.

The evidence that Jesus’ friend, Thomas, demanded to see before he would believe his friends story that they had seen the Risen Jesus was the wounds on Jesus’ body left there from the crucifixion.  Thomas, we can infer, had seen Jesus die. Really die. Now his closest friends were telling his that this very man he saw die was really alive. “Show me the wounds and I will believe you,” said Thomas.

I was speaking with someone going through a difficult rehab from recent surgery about his own hard road. That led our conversation to reflecting on the other people we both knew who were suffering, some of them terminal diseases. What is the possible purpose God has in mind for allowing such suffering?  People much smarter than me have struggled with that question, and some of them have come up with some good answers, some not so satisfying. Most often my answer to people who are suffering is that I do not understand it myself, but I know that God promises to be with us in both joy and suffering. It is not God’s choice that God’s children suffer. God bears it with us.

You have wounds too, right? You are suffering right now, and you have doubt and fear. And if that is not true for your right now, it has been and it will be. None are exempt. Even Jesus. And if anyone never deserved to suffer it was this man, who was really perfect.  So how did Jesus use his wounds, the evidence that he had died, in some redemptive way? He used his wounds to prove he is alive. Thomas believed not because he saw his friend’s face, or heard his voice, but because he saw the wounds on the body of the man he had seen die. The wounds were evidence that the living man was the same man as the one Thomas had seen die. The wounds were evidence of new life.

It can be hard for us to show our wounds.  We prefer to hide our wounds. But God can use our wounds too, to show our families, our friends, our co-workers, what faith looks like.  It is the testimony  of a person assailed by life who  still can say, “God is holding my hand through it all” that leads the seeking to see Jesus is still alive. With you.