Jesus of the Scars

I'm currently watching The Reason For God: Conversations on Faith and Life. It's a series of discussions between Tim Keller and a group of six non-Christians, which center around some of the most common and most challenging objections to Christianity. The DVD is based on Mr. Keller's best-selling book, The Reason For God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.

In the fourth discussion, "Why Does God Allow Suffering? Why Is There So Much Evil in the World?" Mr. Keller shares the last stanza of the poem below. The Christian claim of a Suffering God is unique among all religions. And while it doesn't answer every question we might like answered in this life, it does address the problem of evil and suffering in ways no other religion, philosophy, or worldview can. I'd be interested to discuss this further with anyone who's interested, [hint: the comment function on this blog works. ;) ] but for now I'd just like to share Shillito's poem, "Jesus of the Scars." The last stanza is particularly glorious to me.

If we have never sought, we seek Thee now;
Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars;
We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow;
We must have Thee, O Jesus of the Scars.

The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
In all the universe we have no place.
Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
Lord Jesus, by Thy Scars we claim Thy grace.

If when the doors are shut, Thou drawest near,
Only reveal those hands, that side of Thine;
We know today what wounds are; have no fear;
Show us Thy Scars; we know the countersign.

The other gods were strong, but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.

-Edward Shillito (1872-1948)