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
Shillito was an English minister who wrote his poetry in the trench horrors of World War I.
I am currently teaching the book of Hebrews at CCBoise SOM. If one can have a favorite book of the Bible, this might be mine. I am captivated and intensely comforted by Hebrews' central image of Jesus as our scar-bearing High Priest. The book uniquely magnifies the full deity and full humanity of Jesus, and both are essential to His ministry as our intercessor. Many Christians understand the importance of Christ's deity, fewer understand or appreciate the importance of His full humanity, and the need to hold the truth of both of His nature's fully, and preciously.
It is not simple to hold the truth of both,
Sometimes though, we take what is sublime and try to make it simple,
As I said: It is not simple to hold the truth of both,
Thank you Father, for the Jesus of the Scars.
I am currently teaching the book of Hebrews at CCBoise SOM. If one can have a favorite book of the Bible, this might be mine. I am captivated and intensely comforted by Hebrews' central image of Jesus as our scar-bearing High Priest. The book uniquely magnifies the full deity and full humanity of Jesus, and both are essential to His ministry as our intercessor. Many Christians understand the importance of Christ's deity, fewer understand or appreciate the importance of His full humanity, and the need to hold the truth of both of His nature's fully, and preciously.
It is not simple to hold the truth of both,
but it is sublimely precious and essential.
Sometimes though, we take what is sublime and try to make it simple,
...and in the process can loose a truth.
That's how the first heresy in the church started. The Greek mind had a hard time understanding Jesus as both God and Man. They made him simpler to understand, not by diminishing His deity, but by diminishing His humanity. The Gnostics believed Jesus was only human in form, but not in experience, essence, or will. Their "Jesus" was insulated from a personal experience of suffering and temptation because he was not fully man. The Gnostic Acts of John quaintly records that 'Jesus walked by the seashore but left no footprints' ... a Jesus was not quite fully connected.
Christians rarely adopt a structured heresy like Gnosticism....unless some JW's beguile them. Most Christians I meet will say that Jesus is both God and Man...at least that's what they have heard. But since that is hard to get your mind around, many Christians practically emphasize or understand one nature more than the other, rarely both in unity.
(...You know? a little Catechization might go a long way....but I digress.)
A Biblical, orthodox understanding of Christ's incarnation fully articulates and rejoices in the fullness of both of His natures. If you emphasize one to the diminishing of the other, or if you have a murky or drifting understanding of either, you can quickly slide into heresy... in either direction. Jesus Christ is fully God fully Man...a creed the first three church councils fought to make unequivocally clear, and an essential truths for which people have died ever since.
That's how the first heresy in the church started. The Greek mind had a hard time understanding Jesus as both God and Man. They made him simpler to understand, not by diminishing His deity, but by diminishing His humanity. The Gnostics believed Jesus was only human in form, but not in experience, essence, or will. Their "Jesus" was insulated from a personal experience of suffering and temptation because he was not fully man. The Gnostic Acts of John quaintly records that 'Jesus walked by the seashore but left no footprints' ... a Jesus was not quite fully connected.
Christians rarely adopt a structured heresy like Gnosticism....unless some JW's beguile them. Most Christians I meet will say that Jesus is both God and Man...at least that's what they have heard. But since that is hard to get your mind around, many Christians practically emphasize or understand one nature more than the other, rarely both in unity.
(...You know? a little Catechization might go a long way....but I digress.)
A Biblical, orthodox understanding of Christ's incarnation fully articulates and rejoices in the fullness of both of His natures. If you emphasize one to the diminishing of the other, or if you have a murky or drifting understanding of either, you can quickly slide into heresy... in either direction. Jesus Christ is fully God fully Man...a creed the first three church councils fought to make unequivocally clear, and an essential truths for which people have died ever since.
As I said: It is not simple to hold the truth of both,
but it is sublimely precious and essential.
We might not diminish His humanity in the same way or for the same reasons as the Gnostics, but I often hear phrases about Jesus that make me uncomfortable in how they disconnect and distance Him from human experience. It seems agreeable to most Christians that Jesus experienced a bit of poverty or hunger... a bit. But for Jesus to fully and personally experience trials that tested, temptations that tempted, desires that distracted, anger that threatened, despair that darkened, betrayal that wounded, a will that conflicted?
We might not diminish His humanity in the same way or for the same reasons as the Gnostics, but I often hear phrases about Jesus that make me uncomfortable in how they disconnect and distance Him from human experience. It seems agreeable to most Christians that Jesus experienced a bit of poverty or hunger... a bit. But for Jesus to fully and personally experience trials that tested, temptations that tempted, desires that distracted, anger that threatened, despair that darkened, betrayal that wounded, a will that conflicted?
Did Jesus suffer these same things that I do? ....if so, He might be able to really understand me. Could He suffer these things and be sinless? ....maybe then he has power to help me.
Those questions might take some thinking, some effort, some study to understand...
Those questions might take some thinking, some effort, some study to understand...
but it would be sublime.
But before we have to think hard things, someone inevitably spares us the trouble and simplifies the Sublime with something like "...well, He was God you know..."
Simple.
...right?
...and "click," Jesus gets disconnected from human suffering ...distanced from our suffering. We are left to assume that the difficulties of human life that weary, that shame, that pain us were not actually difficult for Jesus. The hope of a sympathetic Savior withers...
But before we have to think hard things, someone inevitably spares us the trouble and simplifies the Sublime with something like "...well, He was God you know..."
Simple.
...right?
...and "click," Jesus gets disconnected from human suffering ...distanced from our suffering. We are left to assume that the difficulties of human life that weary, that shame, that pain us were not actually difficult for Jesus. The hope of a sympathetic Savior withers...
He was God you know...He walked an inch off the ground...He wasn't really here.
Taking the edge off his humanity might also provide a fig leaf to cover our exposure, and distance Jesus from our own human weaknesses. Our weakness is our shame, because it is inseparable from our failure. If Jesus experienced our weakness...wouldn't that be shameful? Especially for us. So, maybe it's better to keep Him at a comfortable respectful distance. He doesn't have to understand all our weaknesses right? A slightly less human Jesus would be safely distanced from the messiness of this human experience, and it would save Him the inconvenience and the shame of having to come all the way down.
But we are too late to save Him. Too late.
He humbled himself and became a man. He has drawn near, touched the ground, and got his feet dirty. He was hurt, weary, cold, shamed, hungry, weak, angry, exhausted, tempted, conflicted. He sympathized, literally; suffered alongside, and was in all ways tempted, yet without sin and is thus able to comfort us in our familiar weaknesses.
Taking the edge off his humanity might also provide a fig leaf to cover our exposure, and distance Jesus from our own human weaknesses. Our weakness is our shame, because it is inseparable from our failure. If Jesus experienced our weakness...wouldn't that be shameful? Especially for us. So, maybe it's better to keep Him at a comfortable respectful distance. He doesn't have to understand all our weaknesses right? A slightly less human Jesus would be safely distanced from the messiness of this human experience, and it would save Him the inconvenience and the shame of having to come all the way down.
But we are too late to save Him. Too late.
He humbled himself and became a man. He has drawn near, touched the ground, and got his feet dirty. He was hurt, weary, cold, shamed, hungry, weak, angry, exhausted, tempted, conflicted. He sympathized, literally; suffered alongside, and was in all ways tempted, yet without sin and is thus able to comfort us in our familiar weaknesses.
We thought we might save Him the shame of human weakness...
but forgot that He does not fail.
Job and I are eternally grateful.
Job cried out for one who would be a mediator between us...one who can lay hands on us both. I know Him as Jesus, the Perfect Scarred Mediator. He is able to lay priestly, compassionate, experienced, interceding, hole-ly hands on both God and man because He was a Man of sorrows, fully acquainted with grief. He is sublimely precious, and is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him.
Job and I are eternally grateful.
Job cried out for one who would be a mediator between us...one who can lay hands on us both. I know Him as Jesus, the Perfect Scarred Mediator. He is able to lay priestly, compassionate, experienced, interceding, hole-ly hands on both God and man because He was a Man of sorrows, fully acquainted with grief. He is sublimely precious, and is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him.
He ever lives to make intercession for me.
Thank you Father, for the Jesus of the Scars.
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1 comment:
Great essay Ethan. This morning my dad and I were talking about the temptation of Jesus in general. We were struggling to understand the nature of his temptation. I guess the big question for us was, "was there really any possibilty for Jesus to sin, and if not, was it really a temptation?" You know what I mean? In his humanity did Jesus have a will that could have said, "not your will, but mine be done"?
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