Jesus of the Scars

Every one of us needs someone to help us with our stress load, but the best person is someone who has been there, done that, got the scars to prove it —Jesus of the scars.

Take the stress away. Essentially that’s what many of you and I pray for. We want the pressure that is upon us to leave. We want the miracle to happen, so we no longer have to be under the weight of it all, and sometimes it does.

Stress relief that’s what we want.

An incomplete biography

I like to read biographies—the stories of people and how they lived their lives. Most likely, they are the stories of the well-known. The sportswomen and men, entertainers, politicians, and adventurers, but what about those who are more like us.

Like one of us.

If God had a name, the human name would be Jesus.

For a microdot of time, a mere 30-plus years, he walked the dust-filled existence of being fully human. In the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have Spirit-led observations of his human life. Four biographies, but they are incomplete in the sense that you don’t hear every story and every challenge. You have the highlight reel with some lowlights too.

I would like to know more, and there is more.

The last verse of John’s biography of Jesus says this.

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. John 21:25

An Ethereal Jesus?

What’s your version of Jesus like?

Describe Jesus to me in a few short sentences. Your version of Jesus is most likely formed from many different sources. Reading the gospels, of course, and how the church presented him to us.

Then there are the many movie representations from ‘The Life of Brian’ to ‘The Passion.’

One of the common presentations of Jesus, and one that is most attractive to us, is one of a handsome Jesus seemingly floating through life like a cloud. An ethereal Jesus. Someone of the heavenlies, disconnected from the realities of the here and now, lacking substance and form. Beautiful, handsome, one who had no problems and floated through life.

We like this air-brushed warm fuzzy Jesus because we want that ourselves. We want to float through life and all to go well.

But this was not so.

Instead, our marvel superhero knew the fullness of human grief, loneliness, betrayal, anger, rejection, abandonment, hunger, physical pain, anxiety, and sadness. Everything we feel he felt also.

There was a movement a few years ago around the question and acronym of W.W.J.D. (What would Jesus do?) but I would like to know W.W.J.T. (What Would Jesus Think?) and W.W.J.F (What Would Jesus Feel?)

Jesus of the Scars

If I were to choose a traveling companion or a life coach, I would want someone who knows by firsthand experience the struggles I will face.

They have been there, done that, and got the scars to prove it.

I want a God who has wounds.

If we have never sought, we seek Thee now;
Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars;
We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow,
We must have Thee, O Jesus of the Scars.

The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
In all the universe we have no place.
Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
Lord Jesus, by Thy Scars, we claim Thy grace.

If, when the doors are shut, Thou drawest near,
Only reveal those hands, that side of Thine;
We know to-day what wounds are, have no fear,
Show us Thy Scars, we know the countersign.

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.
“Jesus of the Scars” by Edward Shillito

Scars tell a story

I know people with scars on their bodies—some through accidents, burns, etc. But sadly, some through acts of self-harm. The cutting, burning, and self-mutilation. They warm to a savior with scars.

Jesus had scars. We are most familiar with the ones on his hands, feet, and side from his crucifixion. But perhaps he had a few others. Maybe a cut where a chisel dropped from this father’s carpenters table and grazed his leg. Maybe a stubbed toe and all those calluses of course built up from walking stoney paths.

Scars tell a story. Scars invite us to know the story and to put our fingers into them.

What about the scars on the heart of Christ. The losses, the hurts, the disappointments. If he were fully human yet fully divine, he would have been carrying his load of loss.

I want a mentor who carries scars, not social media slick.

Been there, done that, got the scars to prove it.

W.W.J.S. about stress

I wonder what would Jesus say about stress.

What would he talk about if he were to run a workshop or give a series of lectures about stress, maybe in the park down the road from you or in the local cafe or pub? Memoir from his lived experience?

From your lived experience, what do you think Jesus would say?

Let me know. Send me an email.

Quotes to consider

It is the unrivaled wonder of the gospel of Jesus Christ that no other God has wounds. Os Guinness
Our definition of God has been inadequate. We envisioned God as complete and all-powerful and not suffering. But I think God is suffering, and when we suffer we are somehow in solidarity with God. Richard Rohr -Job and the Mystery of Suffering
The reason we sin and suffer is not so much because we are weak but simply because we are human. To be human means to be imperfect and in process. Richard Rohr -Job and the Mystery of Suffering
We think — wrongly — that God can only love perfect things. What a tiny and weak God that would be. Richard Rohr -Job and the Mystery of Suffering
The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God. Rob Bell
I always try to preach from my scars and not my wounds. So, talking about depression is not in any way a wound for me. Nadia Bolz-Weber
Our great problem is trafficking in unlived truth. We try to communicate what we’ve never experienced in our own life. Dwight L. Moody

Questions to answer

Every scar has a story to be told. What stories both good and bad carry scars for you that would help others?
What stories of others have an appeal to you and why?
What would Jesus want you to know about handling stress?