For a recent talk at my home church I was asked to look at John 20:19-31, the story of Thomas, his doubts, and ultimately his great declaration of faith of ‘My Lord and my God!’ But as I looked at this passage, I saw another story as well… One that spoke about the body of the risen Jesus, and what this might tell us about our own ‘heavenly bodies’ to come.
I thought I would talk about it through the lens of one of my favourite TV shows, ‘The Repair Shop’.
Have a look at the video of the reading and the relevant section of the talk here:
And here are some accompanying notes:
Reading: John 20: 19-31
Heavenly Bodies and ‘The Repair Shop’
Jesus shows the disciples his hands, the marks of the nails are still there. He shows them his side, the wound of the spear is still there. Jesus’ resurrected body, the body he will take back to Heaven, the body he still has today, bears those scars for eternity.
In this body, Jesus had earlier walked on the road to Emmaus, clearly untroubled by the wounds from the cross but the scars are still there… THEY ARE STILL THERE!
‘The Repair Shop’ is a TV show where people bring much loved, but sadly damaged and worn items for the team to restore. Rather than make the item ‘like new’, they tend to return the item to being in good condition and useable, while retaining the signs that it has ‘had a life’.
What does this mean for us, for our Heavenly bodies; what scars will we take with us?
– Marks of disabilities?
– Marks of injury?
– Emotional scars?
– Mental scars?
I wonder if the example of Jesus’ body, of his scars, shows us that the pain of these wounds will be gone, but the stories of how we got them, maybe how God used them to do good, how He redeemed them and us, might go on?
Shalom,
Mark
For the full church service and talk that this excerpt is taken from, click here:
Image rights © Mark Arnold, except header image © Ricochet/British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 2017 and full service © St. Paul’s Church, Throop
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