Jesus said, ‘Here are my hands’, as he sat with his friends around the supper table. He took the bread in his hands, and tore the loaf apart, and handed it gently to all of them, urging them to eat, to be part of his body. In his hands he held the cup of blood red wine, spoke blessings upon it, and urged them all to drink, that the wrong that they had done, and would undoubtedly again do, might be forgiven.
Jesus said, ‘Here are my hands’ as he wrapped a towel around his waist, knelt down and bathed his disciples feet in cooling, soothing, cleansing water. Taking each of his friends calloused, and dust laden feet in his hands, he painted a stark and memorable picture for them, and for us of what serving others really means.
Jesus said, ‘Here are my hands, my feet, my mind, my heart, my very soul,’ as he knelt beneath the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane, and cried, when he realised that the cup could not be passed from him to any other, but that it was his to drink, and his alone.
‘Here are my hands’, said Jesus, as they were stretched out on the rough, coarse wood. ‘Here are my hands’, he said , as the nails were driven through flesh and tendon, sinew and bone.
‘Here are my hands, my feet, my mind, my heart, my very soul,’ , ‘I’ve given myself for you, for many, even for the whole world’ he said, as he bowed his head in death, and gave up his spirit
‘No greater love has anyone, than to give his life for his friends’
As we look at our own hands, the hands we know better than anyone’s, we say, ‘Here are my hands, Jesus’
PRAYER
Take my hands, Lord Jesus, and place them in your healing, giving, loving, nail-pierced hands, that I may know you as my Saviour, Master and Friend.
Amen.