Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side.
— John 20. 27
A risen Jesus with wounds still fresh can seem startling— shouldn’t he be perfect and shining like everybody in heaven? Raised from death, shouldn’t he be free of all suffering?
No. Suffering is a part of life. It is surely a part of love—the willingness to give of oneself even at cost. Life is a journey of vulnerability, and even in resurrection wounds do not suddenly vanish. What vanishes is their power to limit us, define us, or defeat us. Suffering does not end; it just doesn’t have the last word. Love has the last word. Our sin, pain, and even death are swallowed up in a greater reality, suffused with blessing, subject to grace, and powerless against the life-giving power of love. Even in our brokenness we are glorious; even in our suffering we belong to life, not death; even in our sin we are the way God loves us.
Resurrection is not about feeling good. It’s about our communion with God and our deep connection with life. It is God’s victory over all that could separate us from God and from life. It does not remove us from the struggles of life; it prevents them from removing us from life and from God. Like Jesus, we are wounded, and even wounded, we are raised to eternal life.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
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Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net