Easter 2C-- Confessing Wounds

Text: “27Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ 28Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:27–28, ESV)

One of the really interesting things about God is that He asks us to do things—and we find that He’s already done them first, for us. For example, He calls you, as a Christian, to give to those in need and to give to support the work of the church. And, first, He gives you all that you have. What you give is just a small portion of what He has given you. He commands you to forgive, even your enemies. But not until He has already forgiven you—far more than you will be called upon to forgive others.

We see the same thing in today’s Gospel reading. He wants all of His disciples, including Thomas, to confess Him—to bear witness that He physically rose from the grave. So, first, He points Thomas to the wounds in His hands, His feet, and His side. He shows Thomas the scars that He took for him.

That’s a fitting picture for today. Jesus says, “32 Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32–33, ESV). And acknowledging God is no easy thing. As anxious as you were about the questioning this morning, that was the easy part. The real test comes, not when you’re expecting it and are prepared for it; not when you’re being questioned by someone who is trying to get the right answers from you; not when you’re surrounded by people who are rooting for you. The real test comes when you’re not expecting it; from people who are trying to get you to deny what you believe; even when no one else is around and you have to decide what confession of faith you will make with your actions when no one is there to see. He invites you to confess Him, even then.

You are about to promise to suffer all, including death, rather than fall away from the faith. And yet, in practice—for your parents, for your older siblings, for all of us here who have made similar promises—it has proved to take far less. All it takes is the promise of some sort of reward: the opportunity to tear down someone’s reputation or to build your own up; a short-lived victory; or a moment’s pleasure. You, like everyone who has made these same promises before you, will deny God for far less than the threat of death.

And, if that weren’t bad enough, by confessing Him you are confessing against yourself. You are confessing your sin and guilt—in fact, not just that you have sinned, but that you are, by nature, sinful and unclean—you are publicly confessing your absolute, unqualified need for a savior. That’s not an easy confession to make. It’s not something that is easy to admit. So Jesus confesses you first. In a moment, you will be invited to make a public confession of faith, much like Thomas did. And, before you ever even had the chance, Jesus confessed you.

Before the dawn of creation, before He said, “Let there be light,” and spoke the universe into existence, He called you by name. He chose you and put into place a plan—not just to save the world—but a plan to save you. And, ever since, He has carefully overseen the events of history to ensure that His plan is carried out—guiding and directing events all the way to this moment.

His wounds, themselves, bear testimony to that fact. He bears those scars for you. He would not deny you, even when it meant being betrayed by a friend, being mocked and beaten, being crowned with thorns. He would not deny you, even when it meant taking your sins upon Himself and going to suffer the penalty for those sins and the death you deserved. When He said from the cross, “It is finished,” it was His plan for your salvation that He was referring to.

It is in that promise that He called you by name in baptism and confessed you there as His child. It is in that promise that He invites you to take and eat, take and drink, publicly confessing that the body He gave on the cross and the blood He shed there, were given and shed for you.

To this moment, He is continually confessing you before the Father, rejoicing in you every single day. As another pastor puts it, God doesn’t just love you, He likes you. He rejoices over you continually. In fact, as you confess Him here today, He will be bragging to the gathered host of heaven, “That is my child.” And all of heaven will rejoice with Him.

On the last day He will ‘confess’ you one more time. He will call your name and raise you from the grave to the new creation where your name is written in His book of life. And on that day, like Thomas, you will actually look upon His scars. You will look upon them with your own eyes—you, not someone else, with your own eyes. Even though, after the resurrection, all that is sad will have come untrue; even though every one of your scars will left behind in the grave, He will still bear His scars. He will carry them as badges of honor, badges of His love for you for all eternity. You will be able to touch the place where the nails pierced His hands and the spear pierced His side; perhaps you will even take the opportunity to follow the example of the sainted woman of Luke’s gospel and wet His nail-scarred feet with your tears.

And when you finally have that opportunity, don’t be shy. Look closely. As He said through The Prophet Isaiah, “A mother will forget her nursing child before I will forget you. I have engraved you in the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:15-16). If you look closely at the scars that Jesus bears, you will see your name engraved there in the palm of God’s hands for all eternity.

Before you had the opportunity to even think about making a public profession of faith in Him, that is what He planned for you and has done for you and has promised to you. That is why you confess Him today, why you promise to confess Him tomorrow and every day that He gives you, no matter the opposition, no matter the cost—because Jesus has confessed you by name. And that is why not even eternity is enough time to confess and proclaim all that He has done for you. Still, you will have the joy of trying.

Consider the scars in His hands, the scar in His side, do not disbelieve, but believe. Then come and confess Him as your Lord and your God.