Good Shepherd United Church of Christ

His Hands                                                                              Acts 4:32-35
April 19, 2009                                                                         John 20:19-31
Good Shepherd UCC
 
Have you heard the story behind the picture of the "Praying Hands"?  That famous image of two heavy, gnarled hands clasped in prayer that is so instantly recognized?
 
In the 15th century in a tiny village in Nuremberg, Germany lived a family with 18 children.  Eighteen!   Now that's a big family, even by Louisiana standards..  In order to keep food on the table for this family of 20, the father, a goldsmith by trade, worked almost 18 hours a day at his calling and any other job he could pick up.  Despite their tenuous finances, two of Papa Durer's boys had a dream.  Both wanted to pursue their talent for the arts and both knew that there was no extra money for tuition or materials to study at the art academy near their home.  Basic needs of shelter and food took all their income and education was beyond their means.
 
As they plotted their future at night in their crowded bed, the two boys worked out a pact.  They would toss a coin. The loser would go down to the nearby mines and with his earnings would support his brother, while he attended the Art Academy.  Then, when that brother completed his studies, in several years, he would support the other brother to go to school, with the sales of his art, or if necessary, by going to the mines.  They tossed the coin and Albrecht Durer won the toss and went off to Nuremburg Academy.  Albert Durer lost the toss and went to the mines and supported his brother's education.  Albrecht was an immediate success- his oil paintings, etchings and wood cuttings far surpassed the work of his teachers and when he graduated, he was already able to earn income for his works.
 
Then the successful young artist returned to his village to celebrate with them.  A banquet table was set in the streets and family and friends gathered round to enjoy the festivities and the feast.  Albrecht stood to give a toast to his beloved brother, who labored in the mines to pay tuition, a sacrifice of many years work..  At the closing of the toast Albrecht smiled tenderly at his brother and said,  "Now dear brother, you will have your turn and I will support you to pursue your dreams."
 
All those at the table turned their faces to see Albert's response.  To their surprise, Albert had tears flowing from his tired eyes and down his cheeks.  He slowly moved his tearful face from side to side, saying "no, no, no" softly.  Albert rose and looked down the table at his brother and holding his hands up to be viewed by all, his sad eyes still streaming with tears, he explained that his hands were ruined by too many accidents in the mine.  Every finger had been mangled and arthritis had set in so badly that Albert could hardly hold a glass to make a toast and had no hope of ever using a paint brush or a pencil again.
 
More than 450 years have passed since those two brothers from a family of 18 kids exchanged their promised to support one another.  Albrecht Durer has his works hanging in every great museum in the world, but most people know him as the artist who gave us the image of the two hands clasped in prayer- and image of the ruined hands of his beloved brother with elongated fingers pointing heavenward.  Though the artist named this image simply "Hands" we know it as the "Praying Hands" one of the most powerful and familiar of any religious images.
 
Today our gospel depicts the hands of Jesus.  Kind hands.  Hands that blessed children.  Hands that touched defiling bodies of lepers to heal.  Hands that distributed bread and shared wine.  Hands that knocked over the table of the moneylenders at the Temple.  Hands that gently washed the disciples' feet.
 
Hands that carried the rough hewn cross.  Hands that suffered, nailed to a cross.  Hands of the resurrected Christ, lifted in blessing and forgiveness.  Hands that were fingered by Thomas.  Kind hands.
 
In our gathering to remember that life is sacred, we extend the kindness of Jesus' hands.  In prayer we enfold our hands.  In some traditions we lift our hands heavenward.  At baptism we caress with hands and remember the gracious hands of Jesus.  At communion we receive in our hands the bread of life and the cup of salvation.
 
Like so many of our spiritual traditions, there is pragmatism that underlies the sacraments.  To display hands, empty hands is to reveal that no weapon is held.  When hands are raised in blessing or extended to pass the peace- they are empty, they are defenseless.  Every Sunday during Easter Season (and beyond, if  it pleases you) we will exchange the peace of Christ-like hands, kind hands, suffering hands, powerful hands that extend mercy and blessing and justice of Jesus the Christ.
 
And blessed are you, who have not seen and yet believe.  You are blessed by the kind hands of Jesus.  In an epigram of the meaning of  life, death and resurrection, the Gospel of John declares,  "For God so loved the world that he sent his son not to condemn the world but that thru him the world would know salvation.  There is no more compelling image of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord, than him raising his hands in kind blessing, a greeting that puts those frightened disciples at ease.
 
In Hebrew the stem word that translates as "salvation" means "safe" or "at ease"- and has virtually endless application.  "People knew that God saved them when they were delivered from physical enemies, bodily illness, earthly injustice, natural disaster.  People knew God had saved them when they were healed of their own faithlessness or delivered from judgments they themselves brought down on their heads...salvation, remember, is not about earthlings going up, but about heaven coming down..."  (Barbara Brown Taylor, Easter 2002 Journal for Preachers).  Salvation is present tense, not only past or future tense.  Right here, right now.
 
Remember that according to Mark, the very first sermon that Jesus ever preached was about the beginning of the new era- the kin-dom of God is at hand...just within reach.  Or as Matthew tells it- heaven is nearby, around the corner.  Or as St Paul proclaims- comes in the twinkling of an eye, salvation does.
 
If you trust the way the Bible tells it, entering the commonwealth of God has little to do with repeating the right creeds on Sunday morning and a whole lot to do with lives turned around.  The blind see, those with crippling diseases are healed, the faint are fed,  those who are bound up in judgmentalism or self aggrandizement are released, freed from a mind set that maims oneself and others.  Jesus helps those who know they need his help, and those who are helped seem to trust that they can be helped.
 
At the occasion of a transformed life, Jesus proclaims that faith, trust in God's mercy, has illuminated the path to healing.  There are Christians who seem to believe more into magic incantations- like "Jesus is my Lord and Saviour!" and bingo! you get into the Jesus club, like entry into some exclusive Mardi Gras Krewe.  Rather salvation is whenever we are restored to right relationship;  we've been rescued from danger;  put back together again after some trauma or tragedy that broke us to pieces.
 
I would point to the beginning of reconciliation with Pastor Gary who has graciously accepted a reduced financial package, helping this congregation complete its negotiations with him.  We have been saved from endless acrimony and disputation!  Say: "ALLELUIA!"  We have let go of wrangling and estrangement, thank God.
 
The kind hands of Jesus bring peace, forgiveness, blessings, graces, healings.  Present tense.  Right here, right now.  Say it:  Right here, right now.  Put your hand in the hand of the Man that stills the waters.  When we pass the peace, when we bless the baptized, when we share bread and cup, we declare ourselves a community open to God's transforming touch.  We know we are saved when we have faith, when we trust that by God our future is NOT determined by our past or even current events.  Faith that  by the holy hands of Jesus doubt will give way to trust, resentments will give way to reconciliation, blaming and scapegoating will give way to sincere love.  May our encounters with the Risen Christ so transform us that we become heralds of heaven.  Right here, Right now.
 
Now Jesus did many other signs which are not written in this book. but there are written that you may trust that Jesus is the Christ...and that trusting, you will have life.  Blessed are you who have not seen and yet trust.
 
Let the people say AMEN