Don Friesen
Throughout Lent we have demonstrated various ways to shape our hands to represent the actions of God in this world. We have used wooden hands, unintentionally creepy hands, and our own hands to illustrate hands that receive, hands that bless, hands that turn things upside-down, hands that restore, hands that lead, and hands that point to the One Who rules among us and from whose hands we receive so much.
The hands of those Who Crucified Jesus
Hands figure prominently in the Gospel story, particularly in the Passion portion of the story, and they are not always hands that work hand-in-hand with God! Jesus said, "...behold the hand of him who betrays me...." (Luke 22:21, RSV) "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me, will betray me." (Matthew 26:23, RSV) There is the famous scene where Pilate "...took some water and washed his hands" of the Jesus affair, claiming innocence. (Matthew 27:24)
There were many hands at work during Holy Week, from the joyful hands of those who waved palm branches, to the hardened hands of those who nailed Jesus' hands to the Cross. There were hands raised in accusation (Luke 20:1-8); there were hands that sought to defend Jesus by resorting to weapons (22:49); there were government hands that dutifully arrested Jesus (22:54); undisciplined hands that treated him with contempt (23:11, 36); and violent hands that beat him. (22:63) There were the cynical hands of those who gained politically (23:12) from the arrangement worked out, as well as the angry hands that raised fists in the air and shouted "Crucify, crucify him!" (23:21-23)
In Contrast, the Hands of Jesus
It is instructive, however, to watch the hands of Jesus during this Holy Week. Shortly after his entry into Jerusalem, his hands are raised in alarm over a Temple that is no longer a house of prayer. (Luke 19:46) Several times he raises his hands in caution (20:46-47; 21:8, 34-36), warning his disciples to be on guard, for that which appears righteous may, in fact, be self-righteous; that which appears good may, in fact, be evil.
In contrast to the angry and violent hands of those who crucified Jesus, we see the hands of Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:39-46), hands stretched out in pleading, hands initially knotted in anxiety, perhaps, for we read that in "...great anguish he prayed even more fervently; his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." (22:44, TEV) Perhaps his hands relaxed somewhat as he resolved that God's will, not his own, would be done. (22:42)
Jesus' last week in Jerusalem was one of great turmoil and tension, and the stakes were high, yet Jesus' hands continue to be hands of healing and restoration. When one of his followers resorted to counter-violence, cutting off the ear of the High Priest's slave, "...Jesus said: ‘No more of this!' And he touched (the man's) ear and healed him." (Luke 22:51, NIV) Likewise, to the man on the cross beside him, whose thieving hands (Matthew 27:38) changed into entreating hands, Jesus offered his own reassuring hands. (Luke 23:42-43)
There were other hands at work in this Passion drama, serving in a similar spirit, the caring hands of Joseph of Arimethea, for example, who took down the body of Jesus from the Cross, "...wrapped it in a linen shroud, and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb, where no one had ever yet been laid" (Luke 23:53, RSV); and the loving hands of the women who carried spices to the tomb (24:1), so that they might give Jesus a dignified burial.
Scarred Hands Raised in Blessing
Jesus' death caused many hands to beat their breasts in sorrow (Luke 23:48), but when the women came to the tomb on Sunday morning they found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, and Jesus' body missing! Today's Gospel reading tells us that the disciples "fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." (Mark 16:8)
We know how the story ends, but it took a while for the disciples to sort it all out. It was a mystery to them, but the two disciples on the road to Emmaus receive a hint when they watch the hands of their walking companion break bread. (Luke 24:31, 35) And as we focus on the hands of Jesus as the Gospel ends, Luke has a wonderful ending. In one last meeting with his disciples, Jesus "led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them." (24:50)
It's a striking image, for at least three reasons. Jesus' hands had scars on them. Those are scarred hands raised in blessing – not in retaliation – but in blessing! Secondly, uplifted hands represent the posture of a priestly benediction. Luke's Gospel, which begins with a priest giving his blessing to the congregation of Israel, closes with Jesus, the risen high priest, giving his blessing to his followers. Thirdly, Jesus' parting posture recalls similar scenes in the Old Testament – Moses, for example, who, before he died on the threshold of the Promised Land, raised his hands and pronounced a blessing over the tribes of Israel. (Deuteronomy 33) The spirit of Moses hovers over this last scene in the Gospel of Luke, and instills it with historic and theological significance.
Jesus' final benediction upon his followers must have been a powerful experience. Perhaps tears were shed, given his imminent departure – but – we are told, "...they returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God." (Luke 24:53) Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969) wrote, "There is enough tragedy in the New Testament to make it the saddest book in the world and instead it is the joyfullest." (The Manhood of the Master: The Character of Jesus Christ, 1913, page 15)
Jesus Commits his Spirit to the Hands of God
What explains this amazing transformation? I believe a clue can be found in Jesus' last words from the Cross. The crucifixion ends, finally, and mercifully, with Jesus crying out, in a loud voice: "‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit!' Having said this, he breathed his last." (Luke 23:46) In the moment of his deepest distress and need Jesus implored God to intervene. It's a hint of anticipation of the resurrection, for to invoke the hand of God is to request and expect God's protective mercy and intervening power.
The Old Testament speaks often of the hands of God, right from the beginning, when God created the world. "In (God's) hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains.... The sea is His, for He made it, and the dry land, which His hands ...formed." (Psalm 95:4-5) The psalms speak of God's open hand, that satisfies "the desire of every living thing." (145:16) The Wisdom of Solomon reminds us that "the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them" (3:1). A psalm reminds us that "...as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, ...so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy upon us. (123:2)
In numerous ways the Old Testament speaks trustingly of the hands of God, remembering, for example, how God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt with a "mighty hand". (Deuteronomy 7:19) The Old Testament often speaks of the hand of God being "upon" someone (2 Chronicles 30:12, RSV; Ezra 7:6, 9, 28; etc.); indeed, the Old Testament leader, Ezra, facing a difficult challenge, drew great courage from it, saying, "I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me...." (Ezra 7:28) Nehemiah, facing a similar challenge, spoke of "...the gracious hand of ...God" (Nehemiah 2:8) being upon him.
The hand of God is a figure of speech, but hardly an accidental figure of speech, for it conjures up images of a beneficent God who protects and intervenes on His children's behalf. It's interesting that in the early years of the Christian Church artists used a variety of symbols to represent Jesus, as well as the Holy Spirit, but few, if any images, can be found of God. For centuries few attempts were made to picture God, not surprising, perhaps, given the Old Testament injunction against "images" of God, and the New Testament statement that "No one has ever seen God." (John 1:18) The closest early Christian artists came to depicting God was by showing the hand of God, the Manus Dei. It was virtually the only symbol for God used in the first eight centuries of the Church. The Manus Dei reminds us that God reaches down into our lives to guide us, to guard us, to protect us, to bless us, and to intervene on our behalf.
When the crucifixion ends with the Jesus' words to God, saying, "Into Your hands I commend my spirit," it is more than a cry of resignation, it is, at his darkest hour, an indication of hope and trust. Jesus' last cry from the Cross is a powerful expression of his powerlessness, a wailing summary of all that transpired during his last days – the pain, the suffering, the struggle, the fatigue, perhaps even resignation and a sense of futility – but – it also conveys his deep trust in God. It is a cry of surrender, of trusting surrender, knowing God is sovereign. It is an echo of Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane, in which he yielded himself to the will of God, not certain where it would take him, but trusting God to bring good even out of this darkest experience. His trusting surrender gave him sufficient peace and serenity to stand with dignity before Caiaphas and his council; before Herod; before Pilate; before the soldiers; before the mob. It gave him the nobility of spirit to pray for those who crucified him.
An Invitation to Trust in God
Jesus' cry of surrender stands on its own, a powerful witness to his steadfast faith in God, but it also invites us to trust in God. Just as Simon Peter, faltering as he walked to Jesus on the water, had to rely upon Jesus' outstretched hands to save him (Matthew 14:31), so we are invited to rely upon the outstretched hands of God, and to surrender ourselves in faith to Him. Just as most of us have experienced the work of kindly hands that have carried us, fed us, cared for us, clothed us, sheltered us, bandaged and comforted us, so the kindly hands of God promise to support us through our dark times, for this is the God, after all, who promised to "...give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands," He said, "they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone." (Psalm 91:11-12)
The psalmist was awestruck at the hands of God that formed his inward parts and knit him together in his mother's womb. (Psalm 139:13) He said: "If I make my bed in hell... even there (God's) hand shall ...hold me." (139:8, 10) Like Jesus, we too have experienced our private moments of hell, when all human hands have forsaken us, abandoned us, or are of no further use to us – but in those moments to know that we are held by God, held by nothing at all except the gracious hands of a loving God, is a gift beyond measure.
God intervened in the death of Jesus in a powerful way. God gave Jesus victory over sin and death, over suffering and shame, over all evil and wrong. And Jesus left us with an unforgettable lesson – that nothing can separate us from God's love. After Jesus raised his hands in blessing upon his disciples, they returned to Jerusalem in great joy, in vivid contrast to their sorrow and disillusionment when they left Jerusalem. They returned to Jerusalem, confident that from now on nothing would be able to separate them from Jesus. Years later the Apostle Paul put it into words: What, he asked, "...shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8:35-37, RSV) "I am convinced," he wrote: "that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (8:38-39)
I have read that Christian believers in Tanzania, sharing this victorious perspective and deep trust in God, have a unique custom at Easter; when they sing or shout "Hallelujah," they do it as a laugh, shouting ‘Hallelujah, ha ha ha!" It's an expression not only of joy, but of their confidence that the power of God evident in the resurrection of Jesus frees them to laugh in the face of anything that threatens to defeat them!
Someone has noted that wherever "...the church has allowed the truth of Christ's victory to get hold of her she has become invincible and irresistible. Her martyrs have sung at the stake and shouted joyous defiance in the teeth of wild beasts in the arena. Whenever Christians believe that Christ is ...risen, immediately the murmuring and whimpering go out of their testimony and the note of plaintive sentimentality goes out of their hymns. Their pronouncements lose the timid tones and become robust and healthy... Spring breaks over the churches and fills them with sunlight and fragrance." (Tozer, The Way of the Cross and Resurrection, page 214)
Every year at Easter we read Psalm 118 because it anticipates the confidence of Easter morning, proclaiming: "There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: ‘The right hand of the Lord ...is exalted, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!' I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord." (Psalm 18:15-17)
Michelangelo's painting in the Sistine chapel portrays the Manus Dei – the hand of God – reaching out to the hand of Adam, the hand of God charged with life and energy, the hand of Adam not so. The painting catches a moment that is charged with promise, for the hand of God is about to charge the human hand with immense energy and vitality. Easter is such a moment, a moment charged with blessing, charged with promise and energy and vitality, and for that reason we go from here confident that God's grace and amazing power are sufficient for our every need. Praise God!
Quotations of Scripture are from the New Revised Standard Version, unless otherwise noted.