T HERE ARE LOTS OF HANDS in action in this passage. Jesus reaches out his hand to heal Peter’s mother-in-law. She reaches out her hand to Jesus to get his help. She then uses her hands to feed Jesus and the disciples. She welcomes her neighbors who bring the sick to her door for Jesus to heal them. Jesus lays his hands on them. Jesus folds his hands in prayer. Finally (I imagine) Jesus uses his hands and points to the next village where he is going.
We all have hands. Most of the time we take them for granted. If you are holding anything, put it down. Hold out your hands — palm side up. Look at the shape of your fingers. Perhaps there is a mark made by a ring. Or a scar caused by an accident. Or a callus caused by years of hard work. If your eyesight is good, you may see those tiny ridges of skin called fingerprints.
Every hand is different. No two hands are alike.
† † †
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS you can do with your hands? (Hit, pat, hug, hold hands, dribble a ball, etc.) We use our hands to pick up and hold objects, to eat, to touch, to feel heat and texture.
Blind people use their hands to read Braille. Deaf people’s hands substitute for ears in use of sign language. And in this age of information technology, our hands are the main way in which we interact with our electronic devices: whether it is a keyboard, a mouse or a touch-screen phone.
We use hands in worship. Pass out bulletins. Shake hands. Pass the offering plate. Receive communion. Laying on of hands during baptism or ordination.
Of course, we can use our hands in negative ways as well. Hands can be outstretched in a gesture of peace, or they can strike out and punch or slap. How we use our hands is very important. OK, you can put your hands down now. One person’s caress might be another’s harass.
† † †
CONSIDER THIS: What were Jesus’ hands like?
I think Jesus had rough hands — all those years of working in his father’s carpentry workshop. Even when Jesus left Nazareth and his father’s trade, he still understood the importance of using his hands. There are so many stories that testify to this.
• Jesus took the blind man by the hand and brought him to a quiet place. There Jesus spat on the
man’s eyes and put his hands on them.
• A man with leprosy asked to be healed. Jesus reached out, and touched him.
• When Peter got out of a boat to walk on the water, he began to sink. Jesus reached out his
hand and caught him.
• When parents brought their children to Jesus, he placed his hands on them and blessed them.
• Then there was the time when Jesus knelt down and washed the disciples’ feet.
† † †
HOW OFTEN, WHEN EATING with his friends, must Jesus have raised his hands in a gesture of thanksgiving, broken bread and shared it out? Not just at the Last Supper; we’re told that he did exactly the same at the feeding of the 5,000. And when he appeared as a stranger to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. It was only when they sat down for a meal, and the stranger blessed and broke the bread, that they recognized him to be Jesus.
His hands, healed and comforted, blessed and helped and served. Of course, at his crucifixion, we know that his hands were outstretched with nails driven through them.
So that raises an important question. How can people see Jesus today? How does His mission continue? How does His mission and ministry of grace and love get carried out here on planet Earth when Jesus is not physically present among us?
† † †
THE ANSWER is very simple. Because Christ is present — here in us, his people. We are the body of Christ. I believe that means we are to show love and compassion, meeting the needs of others, forgiving and sharing grace and mercy.
