Acts 8:26-40

Our bodies are fragile - they break, tear, and scar. We go through life with scars of hurts from the past. Not just physical, but emotional, and spiritual, and mental scars.

The greatest of these scars is the spiritual scar that exists between us and God. We all have it as a result of our sin against Him.

The Ethiopian Eunuch ??

This man knew there was something wrong. There are many people in this world who feel the same.

Yet, we can never find a solution ourselves. Any attempt we have will be like a plaster on a wound that needs serious medical healing.

The Jewish scriptures seemed to start to provide some kind of answers but as an outsider he would not be able to commit to it.

Philip ??

Philip was sent to this one man to tell just him the good news. Often our commission is to do just the same. We never know who in our lives might need us to explain and show them the grace of God.

Starting from Isaiah, from where he was, Philip lead him to Jesus. And so we should do the same for those we encounter. We start where they are and lead them to Jesus.

Isaiah 53 ?

Reading Isaiah 53, we can replace any reference to "He" or "Him" to "Jesus".

The suffering servant

We read here of the incarnation of Jesus, His life and how He became a suffering servant. His majesty was veiled, and He was despised and rejected.

The stricken servant

Yet He did this for our own rejection of God. We have all turned away and Jesus suffered and died in order that we might know healing from the scar of sin that mars our relationship with God.

The submissive servant

Isaiah foretells the trials of Jesus, how He would not open His mouth or fight back against those who hated Him. He was a servant to the evil deeds that were done against in - yet even more He was a servant to the will of God. The eternal plan that would free us from just such evil.

The satisfied servant

Why? Why would God forsake His Son to suffer such evil for our sake?

He died to make His life and offering. That offering would make up for the immense sin of all humanity.

We can never do anything to make things right. To heal the scar. Yet Jesus, through His death was the cure. It satisfied the demands of God so we can live our lives in His holy family.

Because of what Jesus did, our scars are gone. There is no trace of them left. Jesus bears the scars of our sin as a reminder, not of the sin of the wound, but of what He did for us. Our response can be nothing but thanks and submission to Him out of that thankfulness.