Dear Family,

It was so good to be back with you all on Sunday at the Communion table. By way of preparation, I drew your attention to the fact that when the Gospel writers use the phrase “according to the scriptures’, one of the main prophets they are referring to is Zechariah. He was one of the Restoration prophets at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, together with Haggai. He is writing to people who are feeling a bit like many of us are in the context of a besieging culture, where you feel like a struggling remnant. But at the heart of the hope of his message is Messianic prophecy. The main meat of his message was in fact about Jesus.

The Messiah revealed (9:9-10)
The Messiah rejected (12:10-13:7)
The Messiah rewarded (6:9-15)

The last six chapters of his prophecy account for the largest portion of the prophetic allusions in the Passion narratives.

The Passion events were not invented by the gospel writers to fit the prophecies of Zechariah. They were able to understand those events, particularly after the resurrection (the Gospels record that they did not understand at the time the gospels say) and they interpreted the scriptures in the light of the events that had already taken place. Here are some key examples of his prophecies:

9:9 The triumphant entry “on an ass” (Mt. 21:4; Mk.11:1-7; Luke 19:29; John 12:14)
9:11 “the blood of my covenant” “the covenant of my blood” (Mk. 14:24 then 13:7 the first thing he says when he gets to the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane)
13:7 “strike the shepherd” – Zechariah key to the understanding of Jesus as the good shepherd – 6 major references chapters 9-14. (Mt. 26:15; Mk. 14:27)
11:6; 11:12-13 thirty pieces of silver and the potter’s field
12:10 looking on the one they pierced – hundreds of years before crucifixions were practiced (Jn. 19:33-37” look on him they pierced” – only gospel to deal with nails and piercing of Jesus’ side)
14:8 living waters
14:21 cleansing of the temple – no more traders in my house

Christ’s passion was the fulfillment of the redemptive plan of God, attested to by over 300 prophecies that were fulfilled in its execution. This encourages us in the assurance of God’s word, the assurance of His purposes and the assurance about His promises about the outcomes for you and for me today.

On Sunday, I asked if Zechariah had any connection with what was presented about healing at the Communion service? Indeed, he did. In 13:6 a question is raised about the wounds on the body “between your hands”, which were received in the house of those who were meant to be friends. The prophet foresaw the wounded Christ. I was looking again last week at the awesome presentation of the throne in Revelation 4 and 5, at the center of which was Lamb as if it had been slain – still bearing the marks of wounds. Following the resurrection, Jesus says to Thomas, “Look at my hands and feet.” The OT prepared us for these wounds. A hope arises through the October 4, 2017 prophets that One will come to cleanse the wounds of “sinful folly”. They talk about the uncleansed wounds (Isa. 1:6) and begin to express their longings and hopes for the wounds to be healed. Jeremiah and Hosea spoke of a restoration and return to creational health when “He will bind up your wounds.” This hope for the healing of woundedness reached its climax in Isaiah’s declaration of the suffering servant, the dying Messiah: “By his wounds we are healed” (53:5). We learned there was One who would be wounded for our transgressions in order that the wounds of our soul could be healed. There was no salve for our wounds but his own wounds that shed his own blood, which became our transfusion for resurrected life. And this is the confidence that Peter declares to his readers who are pressed and persecuted and experiencing unjust suffering. This was their assurance in troubled times above all else: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

Jesus, our risen host, still stands as it were with wounded hands. His scars are spiritual-war medals of victory. There is healing by the power of the cross and resurrection for our woundedness, whether personal sin and its consequences self-inflicted, or afflictions from other sources. We can be healed by Jesus’ wounds. We have a choice about our wounds. We can bear those wounds unhealed, whether from sin or circumstance. We can bandage them up, or cosmeticize them, but we can no more hide them than we can do a plastic surgery job on the Savior or photo-shop the wounded Christ. The invitation of Sunday still stands. Come to Jesus, whose healing hands put his healed wounds on your head, on your spirit, a promise and proof of the healing desired for your life. You can choose to believe the scars of your wounded past are the perpetual reminder of your disqualification from being used by God, loved by God; you can choose to use them as weapons against those who wounded you, or you can think of the risen slain lamb whose wounds are not the expression of being a victim but of being a victor. Unless our wounds are healed and we become wounded healers, we will continue to be the victim and we will want revenge on our wound-ers.

We are all wounded healers, but the scars we bear on our hands, both the wounds of Jesus and the healed wounds of our own lives, are the very qualifications for our anticipation to be used by God and loved by God. The wounds that begin as the reason for our unacceptability and acceptance in God’s eyes, our own eyes and the eyes of others, when touched by His wounded hands, become the very badges of authority and authenticity, and the foundation for a healing ministry.

Pastorally yours,

Stuart