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God bless
Almost every one of us have some sort of physical scar on our bodies from sports wounds, surgical cuts, war wounds, domestic and automobile accidents.
There truly is a story behind every scar. Some of the stories are painful; others are funny. Some are significant, while others, less so. Some are filled with shame, while others are full of pride. Yet without exception, every scar serves as a visible reminder of wounds we have incurred. Every scar started out as a wound and every wound ends up as a scar.
I often thought God would have made the flesh so that it would not scar when it is torn. The tongue for instance has a certain type of tissue that does not scar when it is torn. Unlike the body, the tongue virtually repairs itself leaving no scar. However, the scar the tongue could possibly leave is when you speak evil against your brother or sister. When you gossip, backbite, speak calumny, or back -fence talk about anyone, a scar is left though not physical. It could be emotional.
Many people sometimes get so ashamed and embarrassed of their scars and would not want to go out, mix with others or even interact. The scar, now becomes a mark of shame and disgrace, seen as a defect making those with them, walk around feeling disfigured, deformed, and hurt. But the scars of Jesus tell us differently. They serve as visible reminders that in addition to being fully divine, Christ was indeed fully human as well. Jesus felt deep pain, and through his resulting scars and resurrection, we are able to have redemption. We are able to feel hope and renewal. If your scar has led you to locking yourself inside, now is the time to come out. Now is the time of resurrection for you. I encourage to come out of that negative pattern of thinking and embrace a new life God is giving to you through Jesus Christ.
Scars are reminders of hurt and pain, shame and brokenness but are also great reminders of how we made it. Your scar tells you “hey you survived”. The fire did not consume you. The flood did not drown you. The scar says; Jesus did it. He did it for you. He broke the chains of death. He writes a new story.
The scar tells us we are alive and the body is growing because dead bodies don’t scar.
The scar reminds us the grave could not stop Jesus, so with Jesus nothing can stop us.
The scar reminds us there is no mountain Jesus cannot level. There is nothing that can keep him down and bound.
The scar tells us God really cares about us The scar tells us the bleeding has stopped. The scar tells us we have been healed. The scar tells us the past is not who we are. Old things have past away. The wounds represents the old. The scar represents the new.
You are more than a conqueror. The curse is broken. It tells us you are free of the pain and shame of the wound.
I am free.
I am healed
I am a conqueror
I am blessed
I am delivered
I am redeemed
Don’t see your scar as a thing of shame. The wounds identified Jesus. But the scars identifies us.
The scar says it would have been worst if God did not step in.
The wound reminds us we were hurt, but the scar remind us that we have been healed, saved, delivered and have been set free. That is what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means. That is what we celebrate in Easter.
Instead of hiding our scars, and walking around feeling defeated by circumstances and people because things haven’t worked out well, let us joyfully celebrate our redemption and the resurrection of Jesus Christ remembering that Christ’s resurrection is greater than any wound and he is able to heal any scar because his resurrection is our redemption.
Finally let us do our best not to hurt and injure people. Let us be the healing hands of God in our world today. Through us, may wounds be healed, lives touched and broken dreams mended. Let us not forget our Lord and our God, who took the fall for us, who suffered and was crucified, died, and yet rose again. He who knows our pain, and whose scars are scars of victory for us.
Thank you for reading. Kindly share and comment.
Probably one of the greatest challenges faced by Christianity and Christians is the reality of evil and suffering. At times even great thinkers are baffled by the seeming contradiction between the existence of a loving God and the fact of evil.
Many times people say “it is not my portion”. This is an expression centered around evil, suffering and pain, so when the talk of suffering is raised, people try to spiritually disconnect themselves from it by saying “not my portion”. And I ask; if it is not your portion then whose portion is it?
Still, for Christians and non-Christians evil and suffering are often at the forefront of our minds, particularly when we ourselves are suffering. How could a good God allow so much evil? Why doesn’t He do something about it? Couldn’t God have created a world without evil?
These are important questions which we will be addressed but not in details in our reflection.
Sufferings is a path everyone of us will have to tread. It is a part of life. It is a path we all will have to pass through. None of us can escape suffering. No doubt sometimes we suffer from our carelessness and other times we suffer out of the mistakes of others, and again sometimes we can’t even explain the reasons behind our suffering. It may come in form of an illness, or an excruciating pain, a broken marriage, an inability to provide for ourselves and maybe our family, earthquakes, tsunami and other environmental hazards. Today in Nigeria, we cannot hold a meaningful discussion about suffering without making reference to the hurt and pain caused by the loss of lives and properties in the North, or the killing and slaughtering by the Fulani herdsmen, or the killings in the Niger-Delta in the south leading to untold hardship and suffering. We will not discuss on the subject without making reference to the flamboyant way of life exhibited by most of our political office holders, living off the wealth of Nigeria while the masses are groaning and suffering.
Considering all the evil and suffering in the world, really does lead us to asking does God really care about us? I hope also that at the end of this reflection, answers to the above question will be provided.
Christ is the head, and we are the members. If suffering could have been avoided, surely our glorious Head and Victorious king, ought to have escaped. Christ shows his apostles his wounds to tell them, that they too shall have wounds. As his disciples, we shall be broken by circumstances, betrayed by friends, let down by colleagues and disappointed by family members. As a matter of fact, evil will come in search of us.
In the midst of all of our suffering, one thing should be paramount in our minds; suffering and pain wont last forever. Ps 30:5 tells us we will weep but even as we weep, let us realize the clock is ticking. Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes with the morning. Sometimes people suffer innocently. Other times we hear people say I am a victim of circumstance.
Well, know from the wounds of Jesus that life will hurt you. It will break you. It will drive nails through your hands. Looking at Jesus, one would have said innocence ought to escape suffering. Let us know that’s his ways are not our ways and his thoughts not ours (Is 55:8). Even after Pilate met Jesus and questioned him, he came to the Jews saying “I find no fault in him, therefore let him go?” But innocence did not escape suffering. Even the captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering; therefore, we who are guilty, we who are far from being perfect, should understand that life will take us through the path of pain and suffering leaving us wounded. Shall the body not be affected by the crown of thorns on the head?
When the master showed his disciples his wounded hands and feet, he was by that very fact also telling them suffering is necessary. In fact, the teaching that suffering was necessary was taught upon Mount Calvary. Every man who has ever lived, falls into one of this categories; a good man, a bad man, and the God-man. On Calvary’s cross, we see three characters. The thief, representing the bad, the penitent thief, representating the repentant, the good man, and finally we see the God-man in their midst. All three of them did suffer.
Jesus in showing his apostles his wounds, tells his them I know you have suffered, but greater suffering awaits you. But it does not end there. There is better. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: (2 Timothy 2:12) if we deny him, he also will deny us. He goes on to encourage them telling them not to be afraid. I went through suffering and I came out on the other side. You too will go through suffering, but like I did you too will do. Just like my father did not abandon me to the grave, so too He will not abandon you. Is 43;2 says “when you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze”.
You may not see me and in some cases will not even feel me, but know that I am with you always (Matt 28:20).
I need to mention here. Do not imagine, for a moment, that wicked men get through this world without suffering. They do, but we will never know because a lot of them suffer but in silence.
Thank you for reading.
Our Lord in showing the apostles his wounds did that to let them know he had not laid aside his priesthood. He was the eternal priest who offered the once and for all sacrifice; a pure victim, a sacred offering, an unblemished sacrifice (Ex12:5). He offered the perfect sacrifice. (1 Peter 1:19).
The book of Exodus in laying down the rules for the Passover shows God giving specific instructions and clear prohibition against breaking any bones of the lamb that was sacrificed. (Ex 12:46). This rule in Ex 12:46 is also echoed prophetically in Psalm 34:20: “He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken”. When Jesus, whom John the Baptist proclaimed to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), was crucified, not one of his bones was broken. John 19:31–34 tells us that when the soldiers came to Jesus to break his legs to hasten his death, they found that he was already dead, so they pierced his side with a spear but did not break his legs. Meaning he died unblemished.
The letter to the Heb 10:9-12 says, “Behold, I have come to do your will”. He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet”. He entered the holies of holies.
He reminds us he is the worthy lamb that was slain (Rev 5:12). If the wounds and scars had been removed we might have forgotten that there was an ultimate sacrifice and maybe, forget there was a priest. But the wounds are there to remind us of the eternal priest who sacrificed himself that we may be sanctified. The wounds tell us, he who is wounded is himself both the priest and the sacrifice.
The priesthood of Melchizedek glorifies our understanding of the priesthood of Christ. He who reads the story of Melchizedek with the eye of faith, will find much cause for joy when he contrasts the priesthood of Christ with that of Aaron.
The priesthood of Aaron began, and ended; but the priesthood of Melchizedek had no beginning, and it had no end. He was, we are told, “Without beginning of days, and without end of years;” without father, without mother, without descent. (Heb 7:1-3 – This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever). Such is the priesthood of Christ. It shall never end. He himself is without beginning, and his priesthood is without end. When the last ransomed soul is brought in when there shall be no more prayers and supplications to offer, Christ shall still be our priest.
Though he has no sacrifice now to slay, for he is the sacrifice himself, “once for all,” yet still he is a priest, and when all his people as the result of that sacrifice shall be assembled around his glorious throne, he shall still be the priest. “For thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Ps110:4)
The priests offered a lamb as sacrifice. But he offered himself as the lamb.
When Jesus showed them his wounds, he was telling the apostles I gave myself for you. I died in your place. The book of Exodus 14: 14 shares a story of what the high priest did which can also be found in the story of how the disciples were sent to free the donkey tied to a pole. Ex 13:13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey. In going to get the donkey as recorded in Matt 21:3, Mark 11:3, Luke 19:31, the disciples did not need to go with a lamb. Jesus told them if anyone ask you, why you want to untie the donkey, tell them the master has need of it. In other words “the lamb” (cf Ex 13:13) sent them meaning the lamb was already there. The exchange and redemption of the lamb had already taken place. Jesus the lamb take the place of the tied donkey, the place he took on the wood of the cross.
When Jesus showed his apostles his wounds, He was saying; I have redeemed you. I have set you free. I have bought you with my blood. You now belong to a different owner. So you are no longer a slave. You are no longer a slave to sin. You are God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir (Gal 4;7). He says to you; I have chosen you as my own and that makes you royalty. You are a holy nation and God’s special possession. For by his blood he has called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Thank you for reading
The wounds of Jesus reminds us that the blood speaks. Advancement in forensic science tells us that blood has a voice. DNA can be extracted from a drop of blood and the results admissible in court. So in a sense the blood can speak and the blood of Jesus not just speaks, but speaks better things (Heb 12: 24).
His blood cried and was heard. “You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel”. (Heb 12: 24).
When Jesus in Gethsemane said “father if it be your will let this cup pass away, the cup did not pass away. The cup was a representation of Gods judgement and wrath. The cup not passing away meant Jesus did have to drink the cup and by drinking the cup he will bear divine judgement of death which rightly falls on Israel and all humanity.
In Luke 22: 20, scripture says in the same way, after supper he took the cup saying this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. It was not a cup of tears but blood. It had to be blood. In essence what he showed and expressed at table, he was to show and express on the cross. Through his wounds, the blood pleaded and prevailed. His blood cried forgiveness for our sins, healing for our bodies for by his stripes we are healed (Is 53:5). The blood still speaks today. It speaks success to the work of our hands. It speaks protection from death. It speaks liberation from bondage.
We sing a song “we plead the blood of Jesus”. When we say those words, we are asking the blood to speak and after the blood has spoken every other speaker is a late comer.
The blood spoke out of the dust of Calvary and was heard in the throne of grace in heaven. The blood still speaks. The blood says you are forgiven. The blood breaks the curse of every chain and bond because His mercy is deeper than the sea. Even when the accuser of the brethren accuses us pointing to our guilt, with a death penalty, the blood still speaks and from his head, hands, feet, and his side, a fountain of forgiveness flows.
The blood pleads for you. It speaks forgiven. The one who fights for you is king.
When Jesus showed them his wounds, he was saying I have forgiven you.
Thank you for reading.
Love and blessings
Even though Christ had sent a message to his apostles, in John 20:17, ” go to my brothers and say to them I am ascending….” he still came to them by himself to show his love for them and confirm their faith in him, giving them all the assurances they need. He took them from hearsay to the eye witness account. He did this because the disciples had the duty of proclaiming to the whole world the testimony he is alive and by so doing build the church.
Observe here that:
1. He appeared the same day he rose. He confirmed his saying destroy this temple and in three days I will rebuild it. He showed them the temple had been rebuild our spiritual shelter assured.
2. He held a private meeting with the apostles. It is important to be away from people a lot of times to be by yourself. Spend private time with your family.
3. Then showed them his wounds.
Showing them his wounds was an infallible proof that he was alive and the same person cf Acts 1:3.
He said, “Behold my hands and feet. It is I”. He showed them his wounds to establish his identity, that he was the same Jesus whom they had followed and called Lord, who crucified and laid in the tomb in the gloom of the evening; it was the same Christ who was now before them, and they might know it, for there was the seal of his sufferings, the marks of his passion.
He was saying to them I am alive. We understand the significance of the song; “Because He lives I can face tomorrow, because he lives, all fear is gone, because I know he holds my future my life is worth a living.
He showed them the wounds to let them know their value and he says today; your life is worth my death. Your value begins with fact that you are made by the hands of God in his image. (Gen 1:27) and even if friends and family forsake God will not( Is 49:15) for His love is immeasurable (Jer 31:3) and Jesus proved it on the cross (Romans 5:8).
God was willing to pay any price to redeem us. “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold … but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18, 19).
Don’t let life and it’s bad sides lead you to thinking you are not good and are off no value. You are priceless. You are beautiful to him. You are wonderfully made. You are the apple of his eye. ( Zec 2:8).
When he showed the apostles the marks of his passion he was telling them he loved them and He is telling you He loves you too.
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I wish to draw your attention to the ample fact, that our Lord Jesus Christ, when he rose again from the dead on the third day, had in his body the marks of his passion; the wounds made by the nails, the crown of thorns, the spear, and indeed the scourging at the pillar.
If he wanted, he would removed from his body anything indicating what he had suffered, the marks of shame and disgrace. But, no! Instead, he showed his pierced hands, feet and side to his disciples.
What was the reason for this?
Kindly join me over the next few days as we explore the significance of the wounds, the scars, and the reason Jesus showed them to his disciples as we study from the theme MARKS OF HIS PASSION.
We shall be praying and reading from the Gospel of John 20:19-23.
#marksofhispassion
Kindly read and share.
Thank you and God bless.
When you search for Him with all of your heart, God promises to reveal Himself to you. Deut 4:29, Jer 29:13.
In brokenness you will find him and when you do, He will remake you. “The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:10.
The path to finding him begins on your knees with a repentant heart. Maybe things have gotten in your way and you have been avoiding Him, because He is truth and the truth hurts. Perhaps you have seen things in your life pointing you the direction to find Him yet you don’t quite want to travel there yet. Maybe you’re thinking you still have time.
Well, now is the time to seek the Lord and to trust him with all your heart. Now is the favorable time. Seek Him while He can still be found. (Is 55:6)
You will find Jesus: When you smile at the sales boy behind the counter at the grocery store or shop.
You will find Jesus when you wait for your turn in a queue.
You will find him when you visit those in prison and the hospitals.
You will find him when you share your bread with the hungry, cloth the naked and help shelter the homeless.
You will find him when you show compassion to the fatherless, and protect the widow.
You will find him when you give those working with you their just wage and in time.
You will recognize Jesus when someone signals to change lanes in front of you and you allow that person space to do so and give a friendly nod.
You will recognize Jesus when someone forgets to fulfill a promise, apologizes and you graciously accept the apology and let any feelings of resentment go.
You will recognize him when you are asked to do something for nothing in return, and you do it with a true sense of generosity and grace.
You will recognize him when you consider the impact of your words and actions upon others and make a conscious choice to speak and act only in ways that empower others.
You will recognize him when the flowers bloom and trees shade their leaves.
You will recognize him when the tempest is raging.
You will recognize him when a son hugs his father, a daughter her mother.
You will recognize him every time you look into the eyes of another and their eyes reflect your face, held sincerely with compassion.
The list is endless. Please feel free to add yours in the reply column. It will help me and others.
Thank you for reading
Have you thought of the wounds of Jesus and what there mean?
Have you sang this song; what can wash away our sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Join us tomorrow at 6am on HIT 95.9 FM as I reflect on the significance of the wounds of Jesus.
You can also watch us live on frbekomson/facebook.com and get the full message on Instagram @frbekomson.
God bless.
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Scripture in Jer 29:13 says you will seek me and you will find me. This means God doesn’t want any body to be lost. But God expects an effort to be put and made in search of Him. We find this in the story of the prodigal son, who decided to seek his father for forgiveness. We find a similar experience in the reaction of the Ninevites to the preaching of Jonah, when they all made efforts.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. The God so far, was now so close. He lived amongst us as a man giving us access to him and closeness to our God. But in the midst of this people still search and do not find. Yes, and even knock and the door not opened.
God being omniscient means He is everywhere but you cannot find him everywhere but He of course can find you anywhere. It is amazing to know where He can be found. You will find Jesus in the Holy Eucharist because it is his body and blood. The Holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ under the appearances of bread and wine. He said I am the living bread which has come down from heaven (John 6:51)
Jesus is present in His Word. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and made his dwelling among us. The word here is the scripture and indeed wherever the scriptures are being faithfully preached.
You find Jesus in the sacrament of reconciliation, also known as confessions. If you confess your sins then I will forgive you. (1 John 1:9) In sinning, a relationship with God is broken but at the confession, the broken is mended and the relationship restored.
Thank you for reading. Kindly lookout for Part 3
