Name: Frank Gough
Email: goughfd9@sewanee.edu
Date: Saturday - 10/Apr/99 - 14:16:51 GMT
Response:
One item in this pericope that strikes me is that Thomas proclaimed Jesus as Lord when confronted with Jesus' scars. It was the presence of the scars which "proved" Jesus' real presence to Thomas. I am led to wonder how often it is our own "scars" which we bear in ourselves that help to give hope to others. After all, we, with the help of Christ, have survived, and have the scars to show it. Our scars prove that life exists after wounding, life continues after pain.
Scars are a sign of healing. Scars also show that there is in the midst of this life the real presence of death, and in the presence of that little bit of dying, life was present as well.
The presence of our own scars, emotional, spiritual, and physical make it possible for us to identify with and relate to others who are in the midst of pain and injury, and hold out to them real hope - the hope held out to us in Christ.

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