Sermon - Quasimodo Geniti 2020 - John 20:19-31

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

It’s fascinating, the artwork depicting Christ, at least up until recent decades, predominantly depicted Christ as One who suffered. For example, the most common image of our Lord is that of Him hanging crucified on a cross. Another common image of Jesus, present in many sanctuaries as the altar piece, is that of Christ with His arms outstretched and His palms opened to reveal the holes in His hands. 

That particular image is described in our Gospel lesson just read: “Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” The sight of Christ’s wounds caused the disciples to be glad. Indeed, the wounds of Christ cause all believers to rejoice.

It’s not that seeing Christ on a cross gives us some sick sort of morbid satisfaction, like watching a gory horror film. It’s not that we’re obsessed with Roman torture devices, like crosses. Rather, the symbol of the cross, the image of Christ’s wounds, give Christians great hope and joy because of the fact that Christ is risen in spite of dying.

Thus, I’d like to spend this sermon contemplating why Jesus’ wounds gave the disciples joy and those same wounds give us joy. The first reason we might consider is that these wounds in Jesus’ physical body strengthen our faith in our bodily resurrection. The facts that these wounds are in Jesus’ body, and that when He is raised He has the same body, make it clear that the resurrection is real.

When Jesus rose, He rose bodily, not just as a ghost or a spirit. Like Christ said: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” The disciples saw with their own eyes that the wounds were real, Thomas even got to touch those wounds! Jesus said, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side.” Jesus’ glorified body has the power to be raised from the dead, to walk through locked doors, and to be in sanctuaries all around the world under the forms of bread and wine, and yet Jesus’ body is still a real body. 

So if the same body of Christ which was crucified has risen from the dead, the logic follows that your same body which you have right now will be raised from the dead. As Job says, “After my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold.” Like Christ’s risen body, your risen body will be a glorified body untainted by the sins of the world. Although Jesus retains the scars of the cross for your benefit, your body will be healed completely.

Another source of joy we might derive from Christ’s wounds rests in that fact that His wounds are still visible after His resurrection. His wounds are a great comfort which remind us that God will never ever forsake us. In Isaiah, Zion cries out “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” And the Lord replies: “Can a woman forget her nursing child? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”

Similar to how a man might write a reminder on his hand in ink, Christ has engraved your name into His palms with the nails of the cross. God cannot forget you, and to assure you of this, He carved your name into His hands. You will never be forgotten.

Another great source of comfort for us is found in Christ’s open wounds which are for us like an open fountain. Zechariah prophesies: “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.” Since Jesus’s wounds are still open, it’s as though His blood is still flowing down to our anxious hearts every day. The fountain of God’s grace, mercy, and life is always available to us.

Just as Jesus shows you His open wounds, reminding you that His grace is freely available to you, so are Jesus’ wounds visible to the Father in heaven. Christ is our mediator; between the wrath of God over sin and we miserable sinners, there stands Christ who shows His wounds to the Father. He pleads for mercy on our behalf because of His sacrifice for sinners. The Father sees the wounds of Christ and smiles upon us, so that we might look to the wounds of Christ and know that God is pleased with us on account of Jesus.

Another reason we might find joy in the wounds of Jesus is that His scars serve as a sign of victory over and against sin and death. It’s proof that He has battled against His enemies and won, because He’s the one still alive! It’s like when you were a kid and fell off your bike or out of a tree, you’d proudly show everyone your wounds and tell them the story of how you survived. Likewise, Christ’s wounds are a testimony that He has gallantly conquered the devil; He has survived and lives!

When a husband fights for his bride to the death, his wounds and scars aren’t seen as ugly things to his wife. Instead she looks at them as signs of his love for her and so she loves him all the more when she sees the wounds. Likewise for Christ’s bride, the church: when we see Jesus’ wounds, we don’t look upon Him with shame and disgust, but with a deeper love and admiration for His valiant, loving fight over us.

When the scripture says “They shall look on Him whom they have pierced,” the devil will see Christ’s wounds with terror and run because by those wounds the devil has lost. This is why Christians often make the sign of the cross over themselves, because at the sight of the cross the devil must surely flee since it signals his demise.

These wounds of Christ give us such great joy to gaze upon because they’re a constant reminder of our redemption! Such is the reason the disciples rejoiced to see our Lord’s wounds. These wounds are the cause for Thomas’s great confession: “My Lord and my God!” 

Today we must be satisfied to simply hear the account of Christ’s wounds, we must be content with sacred artwork depicting our Lord’s hands and side. But at the last day when we shall stand before Christ, the slain Lamb of God, who is standing upon the throne, we shall gaze upon His wounds with our own glorified eyes, and rejoice that He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted for our transgressions, and raised for our justification. By His wounds, we are healed.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!