John 10:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then He *said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
This is a post resurrection account of Jesus revealing Himself to His disciples. Though resurrected, He still has His open wounds. One of the questions I ask is, does He always walk around, in His eternal state, with open wounds. The way John saw him in Revelation chapter 1 does not indicate that there were open wounds to be seen, and in other accounts of Christ appearing to people post resurrection, there is again no mention of His open wounds. Throughout the book of the Revelation though, Jesus is often referred to as the Lamb slain, which would indicate that He is seen in Heaven, throughout eternity with His open wounds visible. The obvious reality therefore is that Christ forever carries part of His identity His open wounds. Jesus is forever the God-Man who in tenderness identifies with our wounded humanity and offers us the love that flows from His wounded heart, that we might believe, especially when our brokenness tells us there is nothing to believe, or hope for. Thomas struggled to believe. After all of his dreams had been dashed in the death of Christ, he had lost hope. When he put his hand in the side of Christ, he encountered the never dyeing love of God for him, and he believed again. Christ forever carries His open wounds so that will forever encounter, here and in the age to come, how His love for us ruined Him forever, and like Thomas, keeps ruined, with a wounded (Tender) heart of love for Him.