Forgiving Challenge: Sin and Scars

Intro

Earlier this week NBC published a story that originated in a conversation between a bride to be and her fiance that ended up in a discussion feed on the internet, and subsequently went viral. The issue… and I do not advise taking any issue between you and your spouse or future spouse to the internet… was that the bride had suffered some sort of incident in her early 20s that left her with a visible facial scar. And the groom mentioned that he would like to have the scar photoshopped out of their future wedding pictures. Come to find out it was not the groom’s idea, but the groom’s mother. The bride was quite hurt, so she’s posted it on the internet to get people’s opinions. Maybe the most shocking thing about the story was that there were many on social media who defended the groom and his mother. After all, the argument goes, that’s what Photoshop is for.. getting rid of the things we don’t like about ourselves. The flaws. Most, agreed with the bride, that she should be allowed to do with her wedding pictures what she wished.

Whether or not you think you would side with the bride or the groom, the story highlights our discomfort with scars. Scars come from injuries, accidents, surgeries, even acne. There is stigma attached to scars. Emotional trauma. Some even cause discrimination. Feelings of disenfranchisement. Shame. Anxiety. Depression. 47 years ago I got my own scar on my elbow diving for a baseball at recess… on blacktop. Not smart. Busted my elbow. Had to have surgery. A few years ago, someone asked me, “Hey, how come you didn’t sue the doctor?” I guess I wasn’t thinking of my bank account at age 10. It never really bothered me. For one thing, surgery and cosmetic technology in the 70s wasn’t what it is now. But the question years later was a reminder that for many people scars carry deep emotional trauma. It can be debilitating.

Scars remind us of our broken humanity in ways like very few physical things do in life. Scars say something bad happened. Or in the case of injuries, it’s possible that somebody messed up. And in the case of 1.2 million new refugees in the last week, scars can be felt by entire groups for long periods of time. But as much as scars are a reminder of broken humanity, they are also profoundly at the center of everything you and I are doing here this morning.

I’m excited we’re on this 40-day journey through Lent. I want to invite those of you who have been in church for all of your years…and those of you who are here for the first time, not really sure who this God is that we are worshipping. I actually think this is perfect for you. It’s perfect for all of us. Let’s spend 40 days learning about the grace and forgiveness of Jesus…the power is in the whole experience and in each part. Stick with us, and I believe we will experience Jesus and his freedom in a whole new way.

We’ve all affirmed that Jesus sets us free, but many of us don’t feel free. Some of us feel like we’ve been chained to a bike rack. Some of us have the idea that that’s what the Christian life is about. So where has it gone wrong? The Bible isn’t wrong. Jesus really does set captives free. Why don’t I feel free?

The place to begin our answer is in that story we read moment ago. Jesus’s best friends are in quarantine. They are hiding because they are afraid of what’s next, and the next thing you know, Jesus is there in the room. Jesus had already done this once before. The night of his resurrection he appeared to his best friends who were hanging in the same room. And they saw Jesus. Jesus had risen just like he said. Except one of the disciples wasn’t there. Thomas wasn’t around. So… John tells the story.. one week later, same room, same fear, same scenario.. Jesus shows up. Only this time Thomas is in the room. What Thomas sees and what Jesus does is at the heart of our entire Christian experience.

Notice how many times the word “see” is used in this story. John 20:24-29:

John 20:24–29 (CSB)

the other disciples were telling him, “We’ve seen the Lord!”

“If I don’t see the mark..I will never believe.

Jesus to Thomas: “look at my hands.”

Jesus: “you have seen me, you have believed.

This theme of seeing with the eyes has carried over from the week earlier at the tomb. The women saw Jesus. The disciples saw Jesus and believed. They had much joy at seeing Jesus. There is a connection being made to seeing the risen Jesus and belief that He is the Promised Messiah of the Old Testament. That theme of seeing Jesus now is central to the story with Thomas. Jesus was meant to be seen. And shared. It’s not simply about proving the resurrection, though this is true. It’s about seeing Jesus as their destiny, the One they had been promised all along. The fulfilmment of their hopes and dreams.

But there’s a major change from the seeing the week prior to Thomas seeing Jesus. Note what is mentioned twice by Thomas:

If I don’t see the mark of the nails

If I don’t put my finger into the mark of the nails

I want to see the mark. I want to put my finger in the mark. The mark of the nails. The mark of the nails. Repeated twice. That makes the mark of the nails also central to the story. The scars. Scars that are to be seen. I want to see the marks of the nails. And what does Jesus do? No Thomas, I’ve photoshopped those out today. Or, as some seem to want to suggest, “No Thomas, my perfect, resurrected body that is the prototype for all resurrected bodies is perfect… there are no scars in heaven.” NO! Jesus doesn’t do that, he doesn’t even criticize Thomas. Here’s what Jesus actually says:

John 20:27 “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.”

Here they are Thomas. See. See the scars. These scars for For You. These scars are for you forever. There’s no hiding these scars, there’s no photoshopping these scars, there’s no restoring these scars. The greatest scars in the history of the world are for you, Thomas. These scars are forgiveness for you, Thomas.

And that brings us to our forgiving challenge for this week. Why does Jesus have scars? Scars tell powerful stories. The scars that day are Thomas’ story and my story. Jesus has scars because of our sin. Scars do identify humanity as fallen. Broken. Sinful. There were no scars in the garden. Adam and Eve sinned and passed that sin down to the rest of us.

The term sin comes from an old archery term meaning “to miss the mark.”

If bullseye is the mark, anything outside of bullseye is sin. That means the times when I miss the board and lodge my dart into my parents drywall in the basement, that’s sin. That also means if I’m aiming for bullseye and hit Triple 20 I’ve sinned. If bullseye is the target, I may hit it every now and then, but more often than not, I miss. It feels like an impossible standard to attain to hit it every time.

We live in a world, and in a culture today, that likes to tell everyone that they are good just the way they are. We celebrate everyone’s uniqueness…we encourage them…no, you do you man. You be you girl. And we are taught to be fully affirming of each person.

There’s a problem with this. And it’s simple. We are all sinful. Every one of us miss the mark and the worst thing we could do for one another is pretend like we are perfect.

None of us measure up to Christ’s standards. And oh, by the way, God’s requirement is that those standards be perfectly kept. You better hit the bullseye dead center with your life every single time, all of the time, for as long as you live.

You know what we do in our brokenness, right? We expand the bullseye. We make it a game of horseshoe… close enough will be all right. But it won’t be.

Even if we were to get pretty close… trying to become better versions of ourselves, and trust me, Chad Bresson frets a lot about that all of the time. I find myself on the hamster wheel of performance. Trying to be better. Struggling with the same things over and over. And I begin to wonder, “why am I still struggling with the same things I struggled with as a teenager, young adult?” I don’t know what your best version of you in your head is… is it the nice house, the Tesla, the weekend getaways whenever you want, wherever you want… you do that, I do that and we find there’s always something else that isn’t right about my life. Why is that? We’re sinners. We miss the mark. All of the time. We don’t live up to Christ’s standards.

Sin is described a variety of ways in the Bible.

Breaking or violating God’s command or will

Words

Thoughts

Deeds

Missing the mark

Falling short of God’s glory

Rebellion

Breaking relationship with God

All of these things are interrelated. Some may sound like they are repeating the same thing. All of it means we don’t live up to God’s standards. So here’s how universal that it. Paul says this to a gathering of believers in Rome:

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;”

We all sin. All of the time. We spent time this morning confessing our sin together. That’s the rhythm of life. Acknowledging our sin. And falling into the grace of Jesus again. Your story is not done. My story is not done. Sin does not define us. Jesus does. The One whose scars proclaim our forgiveness and freedom.

Why would God allow the scars of Jesus to remain? Is it so that we would forever remember our sin? To continue to remind us of our guilt and shame? That would be out of character for God. Remember, Romans 8:1 declares there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. God doesn’t want us to continue to dwell on our shortcomings. So why does the resurrected body of Jesus have scars? What is God trying to tell us through the scars of Jesus?

Those scars are a powerful reminder of God’s grace. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Thomas in that moment. What we are told all he could think to say was the gospel:

John 20:28 Thomas responded to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus came on mission to save sinners. The first step to freedom is acknowledging sin. That we don’t measure up and will never measure up, even on our best days. You and me, we need Jesus. And so we come into that room, and we fall down on our knees and we take our place next to Thomas. Those wonderful, beautiful scars. They scream grace. They scream salvation and mercy! They scream forgiveness. They scream freedom!

The scars caused by our sin are on Jesus. And someday when we see Jesus at the final resurrection , there will be that moment when all of us just like Thomas want to see the scars. Not because they remind us of our sin, but because they scream grace and forgiveness. For us. Forever.

Let’s pray.

The scars are here for us this morning. Because of our sin. Because we need forgiveness. Christ’s broken body. Christ’s shed blood. Jesus is here proclaiming to us, put your finger in the scars. Put your hand in the scars. These are scars that say “I love you. You are forgiven”.