In
lieu of a blog entry on MARK (which will resume next week), I want to share an
excerpt from Philip Yancey’s The Jesus I
Never Knew as we approach Easter – the victory of Christ over death. Yancey
is one of my favorite authors, who often will leave questions unanswered – even
though the subject matter is thoroughly explored – which I appreciate.
As
I began reflection during Holy Week, this particular section about “scars” from
Yancey’s book resonated with me. Consider what Yancey has written and the “new
start” we will have.
“One
detail in the Easter stories has always intrigued me: Why did Jesus keep the scars
from his crucifixion? Presumably he could have had any resurrected body he
wanted, yet he chose one identifiable mainly by scars that could be seen and
touched. Why?
I
believe the story of Easter would be incomplete without those scars on the
hands, the feet, and the side of Jesus. When human beings fantasize, we dream
of pearly straight teeth and wrinkle-free skin and sexy ideal shapes. We dream
of an unnatural state: the perfect body. But for Jesus, being confined in a
skeleton and human skin was the
unnatural state. The scars are, to him, an emblem of life on our planet, a
permanent reminder of those days of confinement and suffering.
I
take hope in Jesus’ scars. From the perspective of heaven, they represent the
most horrible event that has ever happened in the history of the universe. Even
that event, though – the crucifixion – Easter turned into a memory. Because of
Easter, I can hope that the tears we shed, the blows we receive, the emotional
pain, the heartache over lost friends and loved ones, all these will become
memories, like Jesus’ scars. Scars never completely go away, but neither do
they hurt any longer. We will have re-created bodies, a re-created heaven and
earth. We will have a new start, an Easter start.” [i]
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