Put Your Hand Into The Wound In My Side

PUT YOUR HAND INTO THE WOUND IN MY SIDE

Begin by taking a few breaths and paying attention to the air moving in and out of your lungs and mouth. Notice where you feel tension or discomfort in your body. To the extent you are able, try to relax, let the chair you are sitting in fully support your body, and release the tension as you breathe deeply.

a prayer to open

Here I am, Lord, in my tired, aging, hurting, wondrous body.

Open my heart to you now. You are my High Priest who knows.

One of the twelve disciples, Thomas . . . , was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

When Jesus rose from the dead, he rose in his body, glorious and new though it was. He could touch, eat, speak, and see, and he carried the wounds of the crucifixion still. He was no ghost or spirit. He remained and remains embodied.

• Why do you think Jesus wanted Thomas to touch his wounds? Why does it matter that when Jesus rose, he remained—and remains—embodied?
• In what ways have you unintentionally disembodied Jesus—thought of him as only a spirit—in your faith journey? How has that affected you?
• Reflect on the reality that Jesus rose from the dead and still has his body. What does this truth reveal to you about God’s love? What does it reveal about Jesus’ ability to identify with you?

Jesus Christ—

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace;

the one through whom and for whom all things were made; and

the one in whom I live and move and have my being—

you became flesh and made your dwelling among us.

And nothing—neither death nor life, angels nor demons, the present nor the future; not any powers, height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation—can separate me from the love of our God, which is in you, Jesus Christ my Lord.