American writer Anne Dillard told a powerful story, a true story, about an Eskimo woman, an Algonquin, who lived in the Arctic with her infant.
Wrote Dillard: “The woman walked from the camp where everyone had died, and found at the lake a cache. The cache contained on small fishhook. It was simple to rig a line, but she had no bait, and no hope of bait. The baby cried. She took a knife and cut a strip from her own thigh. She fished with the worm of her own flesh and caught a jackfish; she fed the child and herself. Of course she saved the fish gut for bait. She lived alone at the lake, on fish, until spring, when she walked about again and found people.”
The scar on her side remained.
Of course, the imagery is obvious: Christ sacrificing Himself for us, to save us, even at a great cost to Himself. And, yes, this account is only a faint reflection of what Christ did for us, but it’s a poignant and powerful one nonetheless—especially when you include the remaining scar. As Ellen White has told us, “One reminder alone remains: Our Redeemer will forever bear the marks of His crucifixion...upon His wounded head, upon His side, His hands and feet, are the only traces of the cruel work that sin has wrought. And the tokens of His humiliation are His highest honor; through the eternal ages the wounds of Calvary will show forth His praise and declare His power.” (Maranatha 362).
May we, every day, praise and thank the Lord for His sacrifice, and what it offers us now, and for eternity.
