2nd Sunday of Easter
Cycle A
April 16, 2023
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 8:30 and 11am
Jesus’ Wounds
The wounds of Jesus are at the center of today’s gospel.
Notice that when Jesus first appears to the disciples, he shows them his hands and his side. His wounds.
When he was crucified, they hammered nails through his hands to attach him to the cross. Then, at the end, they stuck a spear into his side to make sure he was dead.
So, Jesus shows them his wounds and now they recognize and connect with him. They realize that this is the person who had led and lived with them.
And now, in seeing the wounds, they also see him as risen. The same thing happens a week later for Thomas who had not been with them on that day of the resurrection.
Jesus even invites Thomas to touch his wounds. The passage doesn’t say whether Thomas actually does this.
It does say that through the wounds, Thomas sees him as the human Jesus whom he knew and even as God. He utters that great declaration of faith: “My Lord and my God.”
Our Wounds
So, Jesus’ wounds are central.
He owns and doesn’t try to hide his wounds, and there is a message here for us. Sometimes we dislike admitting our wounds.
I am not talking so much of our physical wounds. We do have them, like a wound on our leg that won’t heal or a chronic skin condition.
We do have physical wounds, and we bring them to Jesus in prayer or to the Sacrament of the Sick for healing. But here, today, this passage leads me to think more of our spiritual and emotional wounds.
These are the wounds that sometimes we don’t want to look at or show to anyone. But the encounter of the risen Christ with his disciples tells us something valuable about our woundedness.
It reveals that our woundedness is not a detour or a distraction from our communion with Christ. Instead, it is a point of entry into communion with Christ.
Seeing his wounds helps us to see our own wounds, as it helped those first disciples. And it is in this mutual sharing of woundedness that he, the risen Christ, can help us and even heal us.
Healing of Wounds
For example, maybe our wound is doubting the presence of God in my life, something like Thomas in the gospel. Jesus and his wounds help to heal this skepticism and bring us to a humble acceptance of the mystery of faith.
Maybe our wound is being alienated from the Church because of some hurt or disagreement. Jesus and his wounds help to heal this distance and bring us a sense of connection and belonging.
Maybe our wound is guilt about something we have done. Jesus and his wounds help to heal this and bring us to an experience of forgiveness by God and even forgiveness of self.
And finally, maybe our wound is self-rejection. Jesus and his wounds help to heal this and bring us an awareness of being beloved by God and with that, a sense of self-worth.
Conclusion
So, I have never looked at this gospel in this way.
But I now see the wounds of the risen Christ as central. They help the disciples to realize that this is the real Jesus, now risen, in fact, God or the Son of God.
And with that, seeing Jesus’ wounds leads them to see their own wounds of fear and confusion and doubt. And that opens the door for Jesus to heal them of their wounds.
All of this invites us to identify and bring our wounds to the risen Christ. Maybe it seems contradictory, but we have a communion, a oneness with him through this.
And through this, the risen Christ can help and heal us of our wounds. I find this to be quite a lesson and quite an opportunity for us today.
