Scars Tell A Story John 20:24-31 04/25/10

Sermon - John 20:24-31 Scars Tell A Story 04/25/10

24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him. "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these were written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Thomas the doubter. Like he is the only one.
All of the disciples doubted.
All of us have doubts from time to time.

I have doubts. Doubts about our country. Questions about how the world works and why bad things happen to good people. Having questions and doubts is a part of the human experience.

Thomas the doubter. Like he was the only one.

Jesus shows up. Gosh I love that about this story. In fact it wouldn't be a story if Jesus had not shown up. Just another bunch of guys were discouraged. Jesus shows up and it is headlines.
Because everything becomes whole.

Do you have someone like that? Someone in your life that is a healer? Someone who fixes everything? Kids have their moms, executives have their assistants.

Wouldn't it be nice if everything in our world today could get fixed?
There are a lost of battles and a lot of scars.

Everyone has scars.

My first one can as a result of a collision between a metal bed and the bridge of my nose.

Since that time I have collected scars on my knees, my shins, my shoulder and my belly.

Each of you could come up here and tell some story about your scar and hoe you got them.

Every scar tells a story - and they are very interesting stories"

Jaws
Qunit and Hooper improvisational share tales and scars - Quint's permanent bump on the head (during St. Patty's day in Boston) , Hooper's moray eel scar on his arm, Ouint's permanently unextended are due to an are-wrestling match, Hooper's bull shark scrape on his leg, Quint's thresher shark scar, etc. Brody takes a peek at his own appendix scar - whit out sharing the gory details.
Then they turn to their emotional scars, revealing their personalities. Hooper speaks about his "broken heart" from a failed romance with Mary Ellen Moffett. Quint's tale of injury is the most terrifying, because he was scarred for like and turned his existence into a personal vendetta against sharks. A tattoo on his arm was removed - "U.S.S. Indianapolis" - but the internal scars remained.

Over the years, hanging around hospitals and visiting the sick I have learned that there are scars inside too. Stitches inside. Adhesion's. Anytime a foreign object enters the body it is not simply the mark of the outside scar, but there is damage, healing and repair, scarring on the inside too.

Then there is the scarring of the soul. The heart. Difficult things that happen that hurt us. We all have them, And every scar tells a story

Scars of the heart - Oh how they do hurt

A divorce, Financial ruin. A death in the family. How about the realization that you are 52 and you still haven't figured it out.

There are some terrible things that happen to people
You can either keep picking at the sore, or you can let it heal.

Jesus heals everything
I believe that. He makes all things beautiful in his time.
If you are here today, ask yourself if it is true-
Reach out, Jesus can heal anything.
I have known people with some terrific problems.

If I can just get Jesus to come into the room.
Soon He appears in the room. Thomas you brokenhearted, confused, sad person.
Take a look. Reach inside.

The thing that I forgot is that Jesus is already in the room. He never left.
He is spacially with me always.
The problem is not that he is not there the problem is that I was so caught up with what was going on that I forgot to look. REPEAT

Life is going to hurt. We can choose to be stuck in the hurt. Mad, Angry. Complain and ask God why, or we can go to the doctor and give him our troubles.

I tend to be a bit hesitant to do to the doctor. I save up my problems until I have more than one, I don't want to go for just any little thing. He always asks, anything else?
Yes, I have this elbow thing. I have this pain in the back of my head.

Don't be afraid to take your troubles to Jesus. He will not fail you.

Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

We who believe have entered into that rest. Hebrew 4:3

God does not let go of his children.

Footprints...why did you leave me? No, in the darkest hours, I carried you.

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in South Florida, a little boy decided to do to the old swimming hole behind the house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and a shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swan toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore. The boy's father, working in the yard, saw the two get closer and closer together. In utter fear, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as loudly as he could.

Hearing his dad's voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his father. It was too late. Just as he reached his father, the alligator reached him. From the dock, the father grabbed his little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the father, but the father was much too passionate to let go.

A farmer happened to drive by, heard screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator, the little boy survived.

A newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma asked if he would how him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, "But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my dad wouldn't let go".

{Jesus} could have had any resurrected body he wanted, and yet he chose one identifiable mainly by scars that could be seen and touched. Why?

Phillip Yancy says that the story of Easter would be incomplete without those scars on the hands, the feet and the side of Jesus.

When human beings fantasize, we dream of pearly straight teeth and wrinkle-free skin and sexy ideal shapes. We dream of an unnatural state: the perfect body.

But for Jesus, being confined in a skeleton and human skin WAS the unnatural state. The scars are, to him, an emblem of life on our planet, a permanent reminder of those days of confinement and suffering.

We can take hope in Jesus' scars. From the perspective of Heaven, they represent the most horrible event that has ever happened in the history of the universe - the crucifixion -

But because of Easter, I can hope that the tears we shed, that blows we receive, the emotional pain, the heartache over lost friends and loved ones, all these will become memories, like Jesus' scars. Scars never completely go away, but neither do they hurt any longer.

Good news: your wounds are ok, they can be healed.
Your scars are ok too
If God can have scars then maybe I can too

We have a place to take our wounds.

We must remind our friends that we are not the scar-less, but we are those whose wound have been healed by the one who still show you his scars.

The time of pain is over, the time of healing has come
Jesus says, See my hand, see my side...believe in me