Two weeks ago for Resurrection Sunday our pastor preached on the last chapter of Luke (you can listen to the sermon here). In it, Christ shows the disciples his hands and his feet.
Stacy, my pastor, was quick to point out the significance of Jesus doing this because his hands and feet bore the marks of the nails from his crucifiction. Stacy said that when he reads this passage he sometimes meditates on the importance of the scars. His meditaion and application led me to meditate on the same for the past few weeks:
Why is it that when we think of our glorified bodies we imagine them as perfect? Unblemished? Beautiful? Sometimes when I'm struggling with vanity, I daydream about the day when stretch marks cease to exist and pimples don't happen, much less leave lasting impressions and Scripture tells us that our bodies will be filled with glory and immortal.
If heaven and the new Jerusalem is indeed perfection and filled with the glory of God, why does the God/man still have his scars? Because Jesus is the lamb that was slain, once for all time. His scars aren't imperfection, they are glory. His scars constantly testify to Emmanuel who offered up his life to be a ransom for many.
"See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet." Luke 24:39-40
