Scars…a post by Tom

This past Sunday was the second Sunday of Eastertide. The church calendar has shocked my evangelical sentiments into seeing that the season of Easter is not just one Sunday but a tidal surge of weeks leading through Pentecost and then the Ascension. Part of the Scripture reading was from the gospel of John chapter 20…¹⁹ On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.The disciples are in lockdown and fearful because the man they put all their chips on was crucified. However, wonderfully disturbing reports have been circulating about a resurrection. Jesus mysteriously appears to them and says “Peace”.   He does not say let’s get them back, carpet bomb the perpetrators, or woe is me look what happened. No victim mentality and no revenge, only a deep sense of shalom. After saying this he shows them the marks of the violence meant to end Him. Somehow his resurrection body includes the marks of His story.Are you able to show the marks of the things that happened to you in life that should have ended it? Your divorce, illness, betrayals, death of loved ones, abuse, mistreatment, and so it goes. Are you able to say to others, “look this should have killed my optimism, my faith, my life but here I stand offering peace because of the resurrected Christ.” Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Nothing. And come to think of it, God is no thing.   Let’s empty ourselves and become no thing and then find our Life sourced in Christ. Peace.