Sleep on This: God with scars on (April 27)
Good evening, friend!
I have physical proof on my body of my past misadventures. My left shoulder bears the stitch marks where I fell on an upright surveyor’s stake, driving it into my shoulder. My right knee has three slight slits that mark the access points where the surgeon grafted a piece of my hamstring to replace my ruptured ACL.
Every scar, a story.
Let me share something that amazes me: Jesus still bears the scars of his crucifixion even though he has returned to Heaven. In fact, Jesus will bear those scars upon his body for eternity. Forever! Every time a heavenly saint catches a glimpse of Jesus’ hands…as he sips a mocha or swings a hammer or swings a 7 iron or whatever Jesus does for fun in heaven…every time, we will notice the scars from the spikes that pinned him to that cross for six awful hours.
In other words, the price that Jesus paid to save me will be forever marked in his flesh. God…with scars on.
I return to Philippians 2 following the hiatus that began in Holy Week. The very last part of the ancient Christ hymn in verse 11 declares that “…every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This is an astonishing assertion. “Jesus” was the Son of God’s earthly, human name. He was not “Jesus” until his birth in Bethlehem. “Lord” is the Greek version of the name of God given to Moses: “Yahweh.” That name is so sacred to Jews that it is never spoken aloud. In fact, every time it appears in Scripture, it is replaced with the synonym, “Adonai.”
But when Paul declares that “Jesus is Lord,” in those three words he makes the most profound and uniquely Christian statement possible: Jesus, fully man, was also Yahweh, fully God. The God-Man. The God-Man who will forever carry the scars upon his body that declare the depth of his love for me. And for you. In these moments when we sometimes wonder if God is for us…remember that!
Dear Lord, as I lay me down to sleep, I do so in renewed wonder that the God of the universe, the God who spoke everything into existence, loved me enough to take on human form and come to earth on a rescue mission. Thank you for rescuing me, Jesus, my Lord, my God.