God's Scars--April 11, 2024

God's Scars--April 11, 2024

"Thomas answered Jesus, 'My Lord and my God!'" [John 20:28]

We've already considered some this week what the story of Thomas and the risen Jesus means for Thomas, or even what it means for the other disciples.  But out of Thomas' own mouth there is something important being said about God.  Thomas--the one so often dismissed as a "doubter"--makes the boldest, clearest, and most sweeping claim about Jesus' identity that you'll find in the New Testament.  He sees the risen Jesus, putting his hand in Jesus' side and touching the nail marks, and finally realizing that his crucified rabbi is alive, he blurts out, "My Lord and my God!" He's not just saying, "You really ARE the same one who was on that cross!" but also, "You really are God!"

And that, dear ones, is a big deal.  Thomas isn't just telling us that he believes now.  And he's not only saying something about Jesus--he's saying that none other than God wears the wounds of being crucified.  The flipside of saying that Jesus is risen from the dead is Thomas' claim that God went through death and has the scars to prove it.

This story, and in particular this exclamation from Thomas, redefines whatever we thought the word "God" means.  So often, we theologize about God being invincible, invulnerable, impassible, and incapable of suffering.  There was a time for centuries in Christian history when the official party line was that God can't suffer, because suffering means God is susceptible to weakness and change, and that somehow doesn't seem fitting for a respectable deity.  But here in the story of the risen Jesus, Thomas dares us to see that whatever we say about Jesus has to be said about God.  And that means that since Jesus endured crucifixion, suffering, and death... well, so has God.  The resurrection confirms what was true all along--that in Jesus we were given nothing less than the fullness of God's own presence in a human life.  Thomas' statement of faith compels us to reconsider how we understand God--not as some untouchable cosmic bulletproof Superman who cannot be hurt and dwells in a celestial Fortress of Solitude, but as the One who chooses to be vulnerable, to share our human fragility, and to bear pain and death like the rest of us.  The wounds on Jesus are evidence, not only that he has triumphed over death... but also that in Jesus' body, God had to go through death.  

That really is mind-boggling: the scars on Jesus' body push all of our language for God to the breaking point.  In light of Thomas' declaration as he touches the nail marks, we end up having to say things that strain our capacity for speech. The infinite God chooses to be contained, not only within the space of a (dead) human body, but enclosed within a grave between Friday and Sunday.  The One we call "all-powerful" and "omnipotent" chooses powerlessness.  The heart of the Eternal One stops beating.  If Thomas is right in calling the risen Jesus, "My Lord and my God" (and he is), then all of these things are true about God.  God wears wounds forever.  God has the scars from the cross.  God, in the risen humanity of Jesus, has gone all the way through the valley of the shadow of death; the fact that Jesus has broken on through to the light on the other side of that shadow also means that God went all the way through it.

All of that means that the resurrection of Jesus is not just a demonstration of God's power, but also of the depth of God's love, because it reveals to us that God didn't merely watch Jesus' suffering and dying on the cross from a distance, but in fact was the One enduring death and bearing the nails.  Thomas' realization relocates God on Good Friday--God isn't merely overseeing the crucifixion on Good Friday from the safety of a heavenly vantage point like a passive bystander, but enduring the crucifixion from the cross itself.  The scars and the accompanying cry to Jesus calling him, "My God!" are evidence of where God was locatable between Friday and Sunday.

I don't think we can walk away from Thomas' story without being changed ourselves.  We are changed in the realization of what his confession of faith means, because he helps us see just how deeply we are loved by God.  This is how far God is willing to go for our sakes.  God doesn't merely farm out the hard work of dying to someone else; God takes on death for us and has the scars to prove it.  That's why we need to hear Thomas' awestruck exclamation before the risen Jesus, no matter how many times we've heard it before.

Lord Jesus, you who bring us face to face with the living God, all we can say is an awe-filled thank you.  Thank you, then, for all you have done for us. Thank you.