Marked?

As a pastor I find myself more widely know than I ever have been before in my life.  Many people know me through my messages, my blog and social media.  People that I don’t even know contact the church how I have personally helped their lives.   At times it’s a strange business to have people know me better than I know them.  I love how Albert Einstein put it “it is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely”. 

I guess being lonely does not mean that you are alone.  You can have people all around you that really don’t know who or what you are.  It can leave a mark emotionally.  And I think many of us walk around with emotional marks that cause us to react the wrong way to situations.

Often that is what Christ experienced.  He never reacted wrong but He was often mistook, misunderstood and walked alone with hundreds of people around Him.  People and His own disciples struggled to connect what He was doing with who He was, the Son of God.  As He went to the cross for your sins and mine He was alone and for the first time experienced separation as He took on the sin of the world and God the Father looked away from Him.  How awful that must have been, I can’t relate.

Or maybe we can in a small ways.  As a matter of fact Paul spoke of His physical scars that resembled those of Jesus and said this.  “…I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” (Galatians 6:17)

I honestly have not been able to connect to this comment by Paul in anyway but a mental accent until recently.  At the end of January 2013 I had a tremendously intense incident with my dog of 15 years.  To spare you the gross details I got bit on my nose that caused two long lacerations that required 27 stitches to patch back together.  Additionally I lost a part of my nose that they could not reattach.  The amazing thing was how quick it happened.  I still can see that split second moment that has changed my life forever.

As it heals I have wrestled with the fact that it will never go away.  I am marked by that moment for the rest of my life.  I might forget about it from time to time, but it will remain with me sending it’s message.  I did not sign up for that.  I did not buy that dog 15 years ago so that I could have a permanent scar on my face that will never go away.  And of all places; on my nose, a place I can’t hide.  When you see me and spend time with me you will notice and eventually ask, what happened?  I have lived 40 years and for the next 40+ years I will tell the story.  I did not anticipate 15 years ago that buying that dog would produce such a result.  If I would have known then what has happened now that dog would have stayed in that store.  Just being honest!

I think that is what Paul was identifying with.  A relationship with Christ that “marked” him.  He did actually go through numerous beatings just like Christ (2 Corinthians 11:24) and that was for sure what he was referencing.  But I think it’s more than just the physical markings, an internal “mark” took place long before he received those beatings.  As a matter of fact that moment that marked him internally was what lead him to be marked externally later on in life.

In similar fashion you and I are to “bear on our bodies the mark of Christ”.  Not just in our minds or our souls where it is easy to forget about or even hid given the right circumstances.  But instead His impact should show up in such a way that we couldn’t avoid showing what Jesus has done to us.  Just like these marks on my nose will always be a point of connection and conversation so should Jesus be so visible and noticeable that we share the answer for the faith that lies within.

I would be lying if I told you that this scar or set of marks on my nose did not make me feel alone.  I get the looks and the glances when I am out and about, I have the pictures to show others what happened.  The conversations are interesting to say the least and in a very small way I think I understand more on what it means to be “marked” for the gospel.

Are you marked?