The Ascension of our Lord

The Ascension of our Lord
May 13, 2010

Doing It By Hand
Luke 24:50-52

His hands were so small when he was born. Small little hands that easily fit into the hands of Mary and Joseph. When they took Him to the Temple to be circumcised eight days later, Simeon and Anna must have marveled that these little hands were the hands of the Savior who would save the world.

Twelve years later His hands were in the Temple again. He was teaching the Jewish Bible experts with His insightful questions and piercing answers.

18 years after that trip to Jerusalem those same hands were in His hometown, unrolling a scroll of the prophet Isaiah, which pointed out the identity of the promised Savior.

Then those hands went to work.
They healed a leper.
They drew in the dirt.
They broke five loaves of bread that feed over 5,000 people.
They took a dead girl by her hands and woke her up with powerful words.
They grabbed Peter when he began to sink.
They made mud and put it on the eyes of a blind man so that he could see.
They hugged little children.
They healed a crippled woman on the Sabbath.
They washed the feet of His disciples.
They broke bread and poured wine that was His own body and blood.
They prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.
They healed the ear that Peter cut off.

And then they were nailed to a cross. Then He died and His hands grew cold. His friends took down the cross and then removed the nails from His hands and then wrapped them up in linen burial clothes. Then they put Him in a tomb.

But His hands weren't finished. Blood flowed back into those hands early Easter morning. Those resurrected hands broke bread in Emmaus. Then they were in Jerusalem, nail marks and all, being shown to the apostles.

And finally, forty days later, those hands blessed His friends before He went up into heaven.

When [Jesus] had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. (Luke 24:50-52)

And now everything is in Jesus' hands as He rules in heaven.

As your hands works to make useful products, as they create delicious food, as they type and send helpful information, as they wipe away dirt from behind your child's ears, your hands are serving Jesus. For you see that after He went home Jesus has chosen to hide His hands from us, and so now Jesus serves us by using our ordinary hands in our ordinary lives to serve ordinary people.

But this doesn't mean Jesus is not busy. By no means!

Jesus washed away your sin when your pastor used his ordinary hands to pour ordinary water on your head as he spoke Jesus' extraordinary words. Jesus washes away sins that you can't stop thinking about when your pastor forgives you on a Tuesday afternoon, and then you are reminded of the tree that earned this forgiveness as your pastor signs the holy cross with his hand.

Jesus' hands used to be so small. But even at Christmas they were perfect. Jesus' hands grew and then went up to heaven 43 days after they are nailed to the cross. Those perfect hands saved us. And now our hands are busy in service to Him by serving others.

We are in His hands.

Amen.