Scars

NIV Jeremiah 1:4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." 6 "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." 7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD. 9 Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

Scars. Tear an ACL, have a surgery – end up with a scar. Cut yourself, and you get a scar. The wound heals and you go on with life, but the scar remains.

Scars. Emotional scars – fear from rejection, being hated, attacked, alone. These scars don’t heal so fast and it’s hard to go on with you life.

Jeremiah knew scars. He was a prophet. It’s not a glamorous job. The people didn’t want to hear about God’s punishment of their sin. But Jeremiah was called and appointed to speak the Truth. He was attacked. People hated him. Others rejected him. He often felt all alone. Jeremiah knew scars.

We know about scars too, don’t we? Of course, it would be great to think that everything is as good as it looks in our lives. We walk around, acting as if everything is fine, but in our hearts, we know that things aren’t quite right. We’ve been wounded in our lives. These wounds produce scars, scars that are difficult to overcome at times. Maybe you are wondering why God had to give you such unjust parents, or as parents you may be thinking, ‘What did I do to deserve such rebellious kids?’

Or maybe some of you may have scars from a severed relationship, maybe a family member, a good friend, or even a divorce from your spouse. Can you trust people these days? Maybe you have lost a loved one or almost lost your own life. Maybe you are losing a loved one as the days go by right now. Or maybe you were injured when a loved one said something terrible to us when they were angry, a painful word that has never quite gone away, leaving a scar. Maybe we have scars from old habits, drinking away our problems or retreating from them with drugs. Or maybe we are angry at God for the wrongful ways He has treated us, at least from our vantage point. I mean, you’ve been praying and praying for Him to enter the life of your cousin or Uncle, but they just seem to dangle out there in the world, even falling farther and farther from His existence.

Yes, we all have scars, just like Jeremiah did. Just like Jesus Christ does! But there’s a difference between his scars and ours. As you recall, Jesus came to this earth with the cross in mind. He did not deserve such things. Jesus willingly came, humbling Himself as a man, and he was rejected, attacked, hated, he willingly went to His death on the cross for our sins. It is hard to understand such a scar, as the ones we are shown Jesus to have today, even as He showed his disciple Thomas. Can you imagine what Thomas saw? The last scene of “The Passion of the Christ” depicts the scars that a 10 inch nail would leave in a human body. We see a glimmer of the hole in that last scene as Jesus comes out of the tomb on that Resurrection morning. His hands have holes in them the size of a quarter! What love, what passion, for us!

But this is difficult to comprehend, and I must admit that I have a hard time relating to sacrifice of this nature. I know of a story that can help.

There was an American man in battle. All the training he received had never been enough for the situation he found himself in. The enemy had pushed through the front lines of defense and his tank had been hit. All of the fellow soldiers in his tank were dead, and he was greatly injured. With shrapnel in his head and throughout his body, he climbed his way out of the tank and fell to the ground. He could not run, he could barely drag one leg and walk, but he slowly made his way towards the safety lines of his fellow men in arms. Almost nearing the closest tree line, he encountered an insurgent about 20 yards away who had crossed over into their territory on foot. There was no cover near, and the insurgent had a gun, but the gun misfired. The enemy put the gun back but reached toward his belt and pulled out a grenade. Pulling the pin, he threw the grenade, which landed only a few feet from the American soldier. Because of his wounds, the American soldier neither had the ability to get to the grenade in time to get rid of it, nor the agility to run for cover. He was helpless.

But out of the nearby safety zone came another American soldier, who had already been heading in the direction of the injured man. Immediately, seeing the situation, he sprinted toward them. But he didn’t cover the man…he went straight to the grenade and covered it! This young soldier saw the problem and went right for it, dying almost immediately after the grenade exploded, saving the injured man from certain death.

In a flurry of thoughts, the injured man decided that the best way to honor the courage of this American soldier was to make it to safety. So, with new vigor, he limped and staggered his way towards cover. The journey, although not far away, seemed endless, and much of the time he had to resort to crawling, but somehow, he made it back to the lines of safety.

It was many months before the man was nursed back to health, for his condition remained critical for six months. He had sustained gross amounts of shrapnel in his head and near many vital organs. It was nine months before he walked again. But his situation improved quickly after that point, and by the 1 year anniversary of that day, the recovering soldier found himself, in decorated uniform, at the doorstep of another man’s house. Fighting off the tears that were forming in his eyes, the decorated soldier touched the doorbell. The answer came not from a widow or small children, for the young soldier who had given his life had not yet married. But a gray-haired woman answered the door.

After the soldier explained why he was there, the woman invited him in. And, in front of the boy’s father and mother, tears streaming down his face, he told of the great courage and sacrifice their son had displayed on the battlefield in order to save his life, a life that had been hanging in the balance for 9 months and was still recovering.

You see, Jesus always had the cross before him. He came to earth knowing he was going to jump on our grenade. We are not the young spry soldier sprinting on the battlefield. We are injured, all of us scarred from life. We hold pain from difficult days deep within. But that isn’t all that we have. SOMEONE has a hold of us. With His scarred hands, Jesus touches us, like He touched Jeremiah in his day. Remember the words, “do not be afraid, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the LORD. The LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth.” Jesus takes us in his loving arms. We are touched in baptism, we are touched in the hearing of His Word, we are touched when we partake of His body and blood in the Lord’s supper. He touches us when we share the ‘Peace of the Lord’ with each other in our worship. God has touched us, in ways unique but similar to Jeremiah.

So, why was Jeremiah touched by God? Do you remember Jeremiah’s scar? He was afraid. We don’t know exactly what he feared, but he had reason, as Jewish tradition has it, his message eventually got him stoned to death. But notice the life of a man touched by God. Notice the faith of Jeremiah, after cleansed by the touch of God, with His words on his lips, he went out to do the will of God. What did God touch him for? Verse 10 tells us that he was to speak to nations and kingdoms, to uproot, tear down, destroy, overthrow, build and plant. I would need the touch of God to destroy a nation and build it up again.

What have you been touched for? We are not all Jeremiahs. But as God formed you in the womb, as you were knitted together in the secret place, you were formed with a purpose in mind. God has a will for your life He is working in you. As it says in Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

This was clear from our study last week when we were reminded of the great work God does when He forms our bodies in the womb. We are not some arbitrary process that, by luck and chance, finishes as “us” nine months later. We are God’s creative handiwork, His weaving and knitting us together for a purpose! We are His Creation that He feels so strongly about, He was willing to go to the cross for it! (John 15:13) Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And that is what you are called: friends of God through Christ Jesus! Before the Father, Jesus says, “This one’s with me.” And we are touched by His grace.

Jeremiah heard and felt God’s touch that day. We hear and feel God’s touch when His Word is proclaimed, we feel it at the font and in communion at the Lord’s table. God has given us His touch for every scar in our lives.

This touch of God is the touch we give when we share the “Peace of the Lord” with each other near the beginning of worship. When we visit someone hospitalized or sick, we bring God’s touch to their lives. When we cloth someone who is naked, as we do through the ‘Friends of Mom” group, we bring God’s touch to their lives. When our evangelism group goes out every month, knocking on doors, praying and taking prayer requests and witnessing the Truth of Jesus' saving grace, we bring God’s touch to a hurting people. I know, I pray with you the prayers that are brought before the Lord because of their journeys over to the neighborhoods.

When we take a child under our wings or adopt, we bring love, healing and hope to this child - we display God’s touch in their lives. When we stand for truth, as was spoken last weekend during ‘Life Sunday,’ we stand for the unborn, we witness to the love God has for all people. We bring God’s touch to those who seemingly cannot be touched in the womb.

YES, God uses His Word, water, and simple bread and wine to touch our lives. YES, God uses us to bring His healing touch to the lives of those in His world, to His Creation. May God continue to touch you, giving you His discernment, strength and love for others. Amen.