His hands
He showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord (John 20:20).
When we were children, it was a family tradition that we went to visit our grandparents every Sunday. It was something I continued to do until I married and moved to Manchester. My grandfather on my father’s side was a tinsmith. He had worked in all the major shipyards across the north of England and on Clydeside in Scotland.
One year as his birthday approached, I decided to buy him some woollen gloves. I visited him on his birthday and presented him with a neatly wrapped parcel. He opened it to discover the navy-blue gloves and looked very pleased with them. He put the first glove on his left hand. It fitted perfectly. But he could not get the other glove on because his thumb was fixed almost at a right angle to the rest of his hand. My grandfather always sat with his hands clasped, and I had never noticed the unusual position of his thumb. I asked him what had caused the problem. Since he was 14 years old, he had used a hammer in his right hand in all weathers and working conditions. Over time, the pressure he placed on his thumb fixed it in one position. Also, he had carried on working well beyond retirement. I can remember suddenly understanding what it cost this dear old man to bring up his large family. At the end of his life he still lived on the borderline of poverty. And in his hand he bore the mark of what it cost him to be faithful to his wife and children for over 60 years.
I was a relatively new Christian when this happened. And as I walked from his home, I found myself thinking of the hands of the Lord. As a carpenter, He used His hands to provide for others. As the Saviour, His hands brought healing to the diseased. He held the hand of Jairus’ daughter to bring her to life. With His hand he lifted Peter out of the waves. He lifted little children to bless them. They were the hands that bore the cross (John 19:17) until Simon was compelled to help. His hands were as freely opened to be crucified as His heart was to forgive. It was these hands that were shown to His disciples as proof of His resurrection, and shown to Thomas to break open His heart in worship. As the Lord ascended to heaven, He lifted up His gentle and all-powerful hands in blessing. We can use the words of Isaiah 49:16 to rejoice that on His hands our names are eternally engraved.
The Lord still reaches down from heaven to minister His grace and love. At the beginning of Acts, Peter, who knew what it was to be saved by the hand of the Lord, gave his own hand to the lame man and lifted him up in healing power (Acts 3:7). In Acts 11:21 Luke records, “And the hand of the Lord was with them.” And in the last chapter of Acts, because of a chain of events which began with Paul using his hands to pick up wood on a beach in Malta, he was enabled to visit Publius, and pray for him, and, “putting his hands on him, healed him” (Acts 28:8, ESV).
The Lord’s hands demonstrate how close He came to us and how close He still is. And they encourage us to serve Him with the same humility and compassion, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). Our hands witness to our Saviour.
