The Scar That Saved a Life

On December 23, 1954, Dr. Joseph Murray attempted what no surgeon had ever accomplished — a successful organ transplant. At Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Ronald Herrick lay on an operating table while surgeons removed one of his healthy kidneys. In the next room, his identical twin brother Richard was dying of chronic nephritis, his kidneys failing.

Ronald did not have to be there. He was a healthy twenty-three-year-old with his whole life ahead of him. No one would have blamed him for walking away. Donating a kidney meant major surgery, permanent loss of an organ, and risks no medical textbook could fully predict — because this had never been done before.

But Ronald looked at his brother and chose the wound.

The transplant worked. Richard lived another eight years, married his recovery nurse, and started a family. Ronald carried the scar for the rest of his life — a long, deliberate line across his body that told the story of what love costs.

This is what Paul means when he writes, "Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2). Real sacrifice always leaves a mark on the one who gives. Jesus did not save us from a safe distance. He climbed onto the table. He took the wound. He gave what only He could give — and the scars of that love remain even in His resurrected body.

What has following Christ cost you? If the answer is nothing, we may not yet understand the gospel we profess.