The Power of Wounds

"Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe" were the words Jesus said to Thomas in the locked room (Jn. 20:27). When the other Apostles had told Thomas that Jesus had appeared to them and that He has truly risen from the dead, he did not believe and said that unless he saw Him and touched His wounds for himself he would not believe.  So, Jesus came back and appeared to Thomas. 

When Jesus came back to show Thomas that He truly has risen, He laid out everything - He showed him His wounds.  Jesus was basically saying, "Here, look.  Look at the nail marks and my pierced side.  Look.  Touch it.  Feel.  It's me."  I read in a meditation that because Jesus showed us His wounds we can bring our wounds to Him.  At Golgotha, Jesus was stripped of everything - His clothing, His rights, and His dignity.  Jesus gave up everything in order to give us everything.  In the locked room, Jesus reminded Thomas of this.  Upon seeing Jesus and hearing Him, Thomas fell to the ground proclaiming, "My Lord and my God!"  Even in the midst of doubt and unbelief Jesus comes to us.  Jesus comes to tell us: "Everything I did, I did so that you can be one with the Father just as the Father and I are one."

The power of Jesus' wounds enables us to bring to the Father our woundedness and brokenness.  When Jesus comes to us saying "Peace be with you," He is saying "Do not be afraid.  Do not be troubled.  You do not need to feel shameful, and do not let the weight of your burdens prevent your heart from being opened to my Father's love.  Here are my wounds, what are yours?"

The peace that Jesus brings is the peace that brings about joy, consolation, and mercy.  In our times of doubt let us cry "My Lord and my God," and remember the saving power of Jesus' wounds and know that Jesus always comes to us just as He did with Thomas.

Let us ask the Father to give us the grace to trust in the power of Jesus' wounds and the courage to bring our wounds to Him.  "My Lord and my God!" 

The Incredulity of St. Thomas by Caravaggio


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