This week we focus on the Lenten theme of meditating on the wounds of Christ.
Words of Reflection
We have spent this week reflecting on Christ’s wounds, the scars that tell the story of God’s love for us. These wounds tell the story of our salvation. The scars mark the darkest moment of human history, yet also speak to the greatest victory in that same history.
We tend to treat scars with a hint (and sometimes more than a hint) of shame. We hide them when possible, and when it isn’t possible we sometimes spend a good deal of money to have them removed. Scars are seen as blemishes, things that mar us in ways that we’d rather not think about. And truth be told, some scars tell unbelievably difficult stories of horrific abuse and pain, and their presence can be crippling to the victim. Scars are reminders of what has taken place, and they often mark the darkest moments of our lives.
As we spend time at the foot of the cross, considering the wounds of Jesus, we are also invited to consider our own woundedness. At Calvary we have the opportunity to think about the story told by our scars. Whether physical or emotional, we all bear scars that speak to how we have been hurt in the past, and at the cross we are reminded that we are not alone in our pain. Christ knows our suffering because he has lived it himself. He is a “man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:30), and he weeps with us because he knows what it is like to be one of us.
As Christ walks with us in our suffering, we find that our scars are not shameful at all. They are, like the scars that brought Thomas to his knees (John 20:28), a testament to what God has done. They give us a story to tell to others who travel similar paths, “…so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Cor. 1:4, NIV) Author Linda Hogan latched on to an important truth when she had a character in one of her novels utter these words:
“Some people see scars, and it is wounding they remember. To me they are proof of the fact that there is healing.”—Linda Hogan, Solar Storms
For some of us the wounds are too fresh to see how God is bringing about that healing. The scars have yet to tell their story. Even then, the place of woundedness is holy ground if we will let it be. One day the story will be clear, but for now we fall on our face and ask God to meet us in our pain. And we ask him to begin not only the work of healing, but the work of using our woundedness for his glory. “Even here,” we pray, “May you be known and glorified.”
That is the prayer of Calvary. And as we meditate on the cross, it becomes the prayer of our own woundedness as well. May God use our scars to tell the story of his healing power and love.
Scripture for Meditation:
But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh.
—2 Corinthians 4:7-11 (NRSV)
Song: Scars
Waking up to a new sunrise
Looking back from the other side
I can see now with open eyes
Darkest water and deepest pain
I wouldn't trade it for anything
'Cause my brokenness brought me to You
And these wounds are a story You'll useSo I'm thankful for the scars
'Cause without them I wouldn't know Your heart
And I know they'll always tell of who You are
So forever I am thankful for the scarsNow I'm standing in confidence
With the strength of Your faithfulness
And I'm not who I was before
No I don't have to fear anymoreSo I'm thankful for the scars
'Cause without them I wouldn't know Your heart
And I know they'll always tell of who You are
So forever I am thankful for the scarsI can see, I can see
How You delivered me
In Your hands, in Your feet
I found my victoryI'm thankful for Your scars
'Cause without them I wouldn't know Your heart
And with my life I'll tell of who You are
So forever I am thankfulI'm thankful for the scars
'Cause without them I wouldn't know Your heart
And I know they'll always tell of who You are
So forever I am thankful for the scarsSo forever I am thankful for the scars
Ethan Hulse | Jon McConnell | Matthew Armstrong | Matthew Hein
© Curb Wordspring Music; Eyes Up Songs; Be Essential Songs; EGH Music Publishing; I Am "They" Publishing
Questions for Contemplation:
How has God used the scars of your life to tell a story of his power and grace? How has he used the scars in another person’s life to speak power and grace to you?
Brokenness can bring us to God, but it can also cause us to try and hide from him. How can we “stand in confidence” trusting in his strength, faithfulness, and healing power even when we are tempted to hide?
Are you in the midst of a season of woundedness even now, with pain that is still raw and yet to find healing? How might this season of meditating on the suffering of Jesus allow even this time to become “holy ground?”