The scars we carry

April 14, 2024

Year B; 3rd Easter

1 John 3: 1-7

Psalm 4

Luke 24: 36b-48

Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus himself stood among the disciples and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Homily by Rev. Megan Limburg

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our

hearts be acceptable in your sight,

O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

When I was 5 years old, I was hit in the forehead with a swing. My brother, sister and I had gone to a neighbor’s yard to play on their swing set, a slide, two swings, and that double swing that 4 kids could sit in; all of it minimally safety tested and lots of fun. Until, you are the youngest there, and not paying attention and you walk too close behind the 4-seater swing as it comes back towards you. Being a forehead injury, it bled a lot, and I had my first visit to a hospital for stitches, and was then destined forever to wear a hairstyle with bangs.

Amazing how scars remain. More than 55 years later, the jagged scar is there. It was a point of fascination with the boys I taught and was chaplain to, when the Harry Potter books came out and they noticed my scar also resembled a lightning bolt.

Every scar on our bodies tells a story. Today we again find Jesus’s closest friends frightened and surprised by his appearance, this time as told in the gospel of Luke.

Todays reading actually follows Jesus’ appearance to the travelers on the road to Emmaus, who walked with Jesus all day but did not recognize him, until he picked up the bread on their table and broke it, and then they could see him. Those travelers had raced back to Jerusalem to tell the others.

And that is when our reading starts, after the travelers tell their story of seeing Jesus, suddenly he again appears, right in their midst!

And despite the joyous story their friends had brought of walking with Jesus all day and recognizing him as he broke the bread, the whole group are “startled and terrified” and assume Jesus is a ghost.

Jesus does not argue with his friends, he does not do tricks or produce a golden halo to try and convince them he is himself.

No, Jesus assures them that he is himself in two ways; first, by showing them his scars. Just like my forehead, Jesus’ scars tell a story, obviously a much deeper story, one that reminds them of all he has been through, and all they have been through with him, all that connects them.

But the scars are not quite enough, and our passage tells us:

“While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.”

I love this, as it reminds us of the confusion and emotion his friends were feeling; they felt the joy of seeing and knowing Jesus in his scars, and yet they still did not get it, and could not believe.

So again, Jesus does not pull a huge golden halo out of his robe and put it on his head, he does not glow like at the transfiguration, he does not argue with them, no, Jesus asks a question:

“Have you anything to eat?”

Just asking this question might have jolted his friends into seeing Jesus clearly, as he was always asking them if they had food to share, as in all the feeding stories, and whenever someone was in need. Have you anything to eat?

At the foundation of his earthly life, Jeus ate with folks, and with those who were left out in his day: the lepers, the women, the tax collectors, the outcasts.

Showing his scars, reminding them of his story, and asking for food and eating with them, allowed his friends to see Jesus again, to recognize their brother and savior.

Food and scars.

This beautiful season of Easter invites us afresh, again, or for the first time, to follow Jesus, and to know and be known in our scars, to tell our stories, and offer trust and safety for others to share their scars of body, mind, and spirit.

And too we are called to model ourselves on Jesus in breaking bread and inviting all to the table.

We all know that feeling, harking back to high school, looking for a spot to sit with our tray, anxious and uninvited, and there is Jesus waving us over, making room, and saying, come sit with us.

Can we wave folks in, and move over and offer a seat too when the outcasts of our day, the strangers, the trans kids, the immigrants, the lonely, the elderly are holding their tray and hoping for a seat at Trinity, at SMWC?

Our first reading today from 1st John opens with these words that remind us of who we are as Christians, Christians with our scars, Christians called to offer a seat:

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.”

Children of God, called to go forth in this season of Easter and onward, knowing each other by our scars and waving folks in and saying, eat with us, there is room at our table.

Amen.