April 2025 Pastors Article

I was working on a message to share with you this month and my wife, who is also a pastor, told me about what she was writing for the newsletter at her churches this month. I felt that it was the perfect message and with her permission, I am sharing it with you …

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Quite a few years ago I did something stupid. Ok, we all do stupid things and more often than not in one’s lifetime we do many. However, this one was particularly embarrassing. I was working in Chicago at the egg and cheese company I had been employed at for almost 20 years. The office staff all had our own cubicles. Around Christmas time there were often goodies in the break room and that year someone gave a large basket with fruits and nuts. Some of the nuts were walnuts still in their shell…but, nobody had a nutcracker. Some of us tried to hit them with our staplers or stomp on them with a shoe.

I had the bright idea of using a pair of scissors. I held the nut in one hand and tried to crack it with a large pair of scissors. I’m sure you can see where this is going. The nut shot out of the scissors and the V part of the scissors cut into the palm of my hand. I sat there a moment and realized the dumb thing I had done…and then I ran to the break room for a towel. I wound up going to the ER and had seven stitches put in. For years I had a V-shaped scar on the palm of my hand which has now faded.

I seldom think about or acknowledge that scar. It’s there and yet I pay absolutely no attention to it. It’s become a faded memory of a work day long ago.

Awhile back, when I happened to notice my scar, a thought came to mind: “By his stripes we are healed.” I paused for a moment and pictured Jesus and his scars. The nails were driven into Jesus’s wrists to hold the weight of his body. While my scar is not on the wrist, it is close being it’s in the palm near my thumb.

But I am confident that, unlike me, Jesus has never forgotten his scars. His scars were chosen. His scars were willingly received. His scars were because of love.

On this Easter, 2025, may we all remember the scars Jesus bore for us. They are scars of love.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5 – RSV)

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By the way, where Jodi worked when her story happened, they shared Christmas gifts with each other. The one thing she received from just about everyone was a proper nutcracker.