In 1975 the film Jaws became a phenomenal success.
It was a film about a Great White shark that terrorises a small coastal town in the USA.
In the film there is a scene where Quint, the crusty old fisherman who has been hired to kill the shark, and Hooper, The scientific researcher from the Oceanographic Institute, are comparing scars.
Both men have been bitten and scarred in their encounters with different sharks and marine life, as well as through their other adventures in life.
They seek to outdo each other, as they share the stories of their many injuries; injuries that give testimony to their bravery and risk-taking.
At one point Chief Brody, the danger-averse police chief, looks down at his appendix scar, almost like he is trying to imagine a story he could tell about that.
Being scarred is a universal feature of human-ness.
In the act of being born we are scarred, when we are cut from our mother’s body.
A scar that we carry for the rest of our lives – our belly button.
A scar that reminds us that our lives are a costly gift, given to us by our mother’s at great cost and inconvenience to themselves.
Something that should give us all pause for thought.
In the Bible scars are important too.
St Paul’s body bore the scars of his life of his many beatings and stonings, and no less than three shipwrecks.
So, when churches that he had founded fell out with him, and new leaders rose up to oppose him, he wrote this to them;
“From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus”
Galatians 6:17
His scars were the proof of his devotion to Christ, of his willingness to suffer for the cause of Jesus. His scars were his glory.
But even more significant than St Paul, it is interesting that after his resurrection, Jesus, in his glorified body, still carries the scars of his crucifixion.
We might wonder why? Shouldn’t those scars have been healed, erased, shouldn’t Jesus’ glorified body be perfect and whole?
The reason those scars remain is that they are the absolute demonstration of Jesus’ life and work.
Jesus suffered and died for our salvation.
His scars do not diminish him, rather they demonstrate his essence, his victory, his sacrifice.
His scars are his glory.
So, the next time you are comparing scars and telling the stories of how you got them, remember the glorious injuries of Jesus, willingly accepted for your salvation.