Scars Series

October 07, 2023

Today I want to talk about scars.

How many of you have scars? Surgical scars – scars from accidents – big scars, little scars – internal scars, external scars – you, know, the scars from living on planet earth.

I have lots of scars:

The time a car cut in front of my mom and she had to slam on her brakes.

The time I was hit by a car while riding my bike.

The time I had a growth on my neck.

The time I was getting a roast out of the oven.

The time I had to have a tendon repaired in my elbow.

The time I disobeyed………….

I was about 3 – 3 ½ years old. We lived in Southern California. The water was terrible, so we had bottled water. In those days glass containers were the standard. Our glass container sat in a sling on the floor. It sat straight up but could be tilted either direction to pour out the water. For obvious reasons, my sister and I were given specific instructions NOT to sit on the water bottle.

I sat on the water bottle.

As expected, when I tilted, the container tilted, fell out of its sling and crashed to the ground – breaking into jagged pieces and sending water everywhere.

I can still remember watching in fascination as the doctor stitched me up…..

That’s how I got this scar.

Jesus has similar scars on his wrists, but while my scar is the result of disobedience, His are the result of obedience.

• Philippians 2:5-8 - Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!

2000 years ago, He deliberately chose a path that would result in the wounds that left those scars. He chose the whip that would lacerate his back. He chose the crown that would pierce His brow. He chose the cross.

• Isaiah 53:1-5 - Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

As we celebrate Communion today, let us remember that Jesus’s scars transform our scars from the evidence of our disobedience into “trophies of victory.”

• Isaiah 25:7-9 - On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. 9 In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."

• Revelation 19:6-7 - Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.