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Jesus' Hands

by Zach Strickland

 
Jesus' Hands  (second sermonette on "hands")

 
What do you think Jesus hands would look like?

Jesus grew up in a carpenter's shop and His dad worked with wood all day. Jesus was just like any other young boy and He wanted to grow up to be just like His dad.

My dad grew up with a father who worked with wood. His dad was a woodwork teacher and my dad tells me that my grandfather had really rough hands. Working with all those tools & the rough wood made his hands really rough and scratchy. Even with rough, scratchy hands though, his hands were still kind enough to hug my dad to let him know that he was loved.

I think Jesus' hands would be like that too.

I want us to explore our Bibles and look at just how special Jesus' hands were. If you have your Bible you can look them up with me.

Jesus used His hands to heal

A number of stories in Matthew tell us about how Jesus used His hands to heal. First let's look at Matthew 9:18 and 25.

(18) "While He was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before Him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live."

(25) "After the crowd had been put outside, He went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up."

Just a couple of verses later we have another example of Jesus using His hands to heal. In Matthew 9:29 & 30 Jesus healed two blind men by simply touching their eyes as it says here

"Then He touched their eyes and said, 'According to your faith will it be done to you'; and their sight was restored."

There are lots of stories in the Bible of Jesus healing all sorts of people by touching them. It didn't matter to Him whether they were rich or poor, popular or unpopular, pretty or just pretty ugly. He even healed lepers which was a pretty big deal. Everyone in those times thought that if they touched a leper they would get leprosy too so they wouldn't go near them. In fact people suffering from leprosy became outcasts in their society.

Matthew 8:2&3 says "A man with leprosy came and knelt before Him and said, 'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.' Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' He said. 'Be clean!' Immediately he was cured of his leprosy."

Jesus used His hands to perform miracles

Another thing that made Jesus' hands special was the way that He used them to do really cool miracles like breaking the loaves of bread and using it to feed more than 5,000 people so that they wouldn't be hungry. Or when He used them to reach out and catch Peter by the hand when he was drowning. Can you think of any others?

Jesus used His hands to encourage children

As a kid, I think one of the best things about Jesus' hands was how He always had time for children and He always welcomed them. Sometimes adults don't have time for kids but Jesus didn't just have time for them, He encouraged them to spend time with Him and suggested others do the same. Turn with me to Mark 9:36 & 37

"He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in His arms, He said to them, 'Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name, welcomes Me'.

Jesus used His hands to serve others

The whole time Jesus was here on earth, He used His hands to serve others. Even though He is the Son of God and worthy to be served, He still chose to get down on His knees and use His own hands to wash someone else's dirty, smelly feet. That was a job that only servants usually did but Jesus wanted to show us that we were to serve others, not to be served.

Jesus used His hands to give His life for us

The most important thing about Jesus' hands were that they were nailed to a cross for us. Can you imagine how much it would hurt to hang on a cross? To have nails hammered into your hands and your feet? Did you know that crucifixion was the most slow and painful way to die and that the Romans used it for their worst criminals? The Jews even believed that if you were crucified you were under God's curse. Jesus obviously really loves us!

Jesus uses His hands to knock at the door of our heart

Now as a result of all this, Jesus uses His hands to come and knock on our door and ask us to be His children. Revelation 3:20 says

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with Me."

I can't wait to go hand in hand to heaven with Jesus! How about you?

Copyright © 2018 Thornleigh Seventh-day Adventist Church