13th April 2025 

^{Charles Lutyens, “Crucifixion,” 1984. Oil on canvas. Source:http://www.charleslutyens.co.uk/paintings/religious.html}

"By his wounds, you have been healed" 

I have a very small scar on my chin. It's the result of an ill-advised attempt to reach a desired object (probably a biscuit tin!) by climbing on a kitchen stool as a toddler. The stool wobbled; I fell, and, to this day, I bear the scar.

Most of us probably bear similar scars - from injuries sustained in playground and sporting accidents, from operations, sometimes from occasions when people have physically wounded us. Our bodies tell a story of the lives we have led. And all of us also bear emotional, perhaps spiritual, scars - the wounds of words spoken to or about us, the injuries that we hide deep in our hearts and souls.

What kind of God can heal such wounds? The unique answer given by our faith is that, as he lived and died for us, Jesus Christ who was in very nature God chose the way of vulnerability, was falsely accused, beaten, tortured and nailed to a cross - for us. Reflecting on this in his first letter, Peter echoes Isaiah's prophecy of the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53) from many years earlier. "When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:23).

In the shadow of the terrible suffering of the First World War, an English poet, Edward Shillito, wrote a poem "Jesus of the Scars". The poem ends with these words:

The other gods were strong; but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.

In some mysterious, incomprehensible way, the eternal God is changed by the cross. The risen and ascended Jesus will still bear the marks of the nails for all eternity. 

What kind of God can heal our wounds? Only a God who suffers who can truly understand human suffering. Only a God who himself bears the physical (and emotional?) scars of crucifixion, can truly walk alongside the wounded, the tortured, the betrayed, the victims of abuse and violence. "By his wounds," says Peter, "you have been healed." (1 Peter 2:24).

For further reflection:
To read Edward Shillito's poem, "Jesus of the scars", click here
To listen to Graham Kendrick's song "Jesus of the scars", click here