“Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”

— John 20:27

In all my years of preaching on Thomas, there’s one detail that continues to hold my attention. When Jesus appears to him, he says, “Put your finger here… see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side.” And I find myself wondering, what exactly is Thomas touching?

Are they scars? Or are they still wounds?

Are the holes still there in his hands? In his side? They haven’t healed, not fully. They are not closed-over reminders of what he endured. The text doesn’t tell us they are fresh or bleeding, but for what it’s worth, I think they are still open wounds.

For Jesus, the resurrection does not erase what happened on the cross. It doesn’t simply cover it over or smooth it out. He still bears the wounds.

And I think Thomas needed that. I think he needed to see them. To touch them. To know that the one standing before him was not untouched by suffering, but had carried it fully.

Maybe Thomas needed a Messiah who was willing to bear the wounds, not just move past them. Maybe he needed a God who bled and died, a God who knew the depths of pain and did not rush to tidy it up or explain it away. Maybe he needed a God who had lived it.

Because the resurrection does not deny the reality of suffering. It transforms it. Jesus does not forget what has happened, nor does he ignore it. Instead, those very wounds become the place where faith is born.

“My Lord and my God.”

Beloved, we all carry wounds. Some are still open. Some have scarred over, but none of them are unknown to God, and they are not erased.

As we move through this week, catching our breath after the long journey of Holy Week, I invite you to bring those wounds before God. Not to hide them. Not to rush past them. But to place them, gently and honestly, in the presence of the risen Christ.

The one who still bears wounds. The one who meets us there. The one who is already at work, bringing new life.