Seeing Jesus - Hands (3)

	As we examine the hands of Jesus, we see the marks of a carpenter.  We see the hands of a fisherman.  These are hands which are not too proud to reach down in love and appreciation.  They are eager to reach out in understanding and support.  And they are always reaching up in worship and praise.
	"No doubt," Jesus comments in Luke 4:23, "you will quote this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your home town as well. '"
	"{It is} not those who are well who need a physician," Jesus observes in Luke 5:31-32, "but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." 
	The reference to Jesus as a physician is certainly an appropriate one.  No one in the history of the world has healed so many people of so many diseases.  He is unquestionably the "Great Physician."
	"And behold, a leper came to Him," we read in Matthew 8:2-3, "and bowed down to Him, saying, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.'  And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, 'I am willing; be cleansed.' And immediately his leprosy was cleansed."
	The hands of Jesus are those of a doctor.  With one touch they are able to cure any disease.  Although we cannot have this same miraculous power today, Jesus does expect us to use our hands to attend to the physical needs of others.
	"What use is it, my brethren," James 2:14-16 asks, "if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for {their} body, what use is that?"
	The hands of Jesus are those of a doctor.  They tend to the physical needs of those they touch.  But, unlike that of mortal physicians, the power of Jesus goes beyond physical illness.  His hands are also dedicated to healing religious illness.
	By the time of Jesus, the Jewish religion has been made into a hollow observance of meaningless customs.  There is a great deal of religious illness.  One of the first things the Lord does is enter the temple area and drive out those who are trying to make a profit from the religious devotion of the people.
	"And the Passover of the Jews was at hand," John 2:13-16 records, "and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers seated.  And He made a scourge of cords, and drove {them} all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the moneychangers, and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, 'Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a house of merchandise.'"
	Toward the end of His ministry, Jesus once again enters the temple to remove those who are spreading the infection of religious disease.
	"And Jesus entered the temple," we find in Matthew 21:12-13, "and cast out all those who were buying and selling in  the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves.  And He said to them, 'It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer"; but you are making it a robbers' den.'" 
	The hands of Jesus are those of a doctor.  They work to eliminate religious illness.  He expects us to dedicate our hands to the same purpose.  A doctor who is treating an illness has been trained in a precise procedure to deal with the sickness. In turn, the physician expects the patient to precisely follow a set of instructions.  The same is true in dealing with religious illness.  This requires that we know, follow and teach a certain pattern of doctrine.
	"But thanks be to God," Paul states in Romans 6:17, "that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed."
	"Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me," Paul admonishes in 2 Timothy 1:13, "in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus."
	"Holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching," Paul instructs in Titus 1:9, "that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict."

	The hands of Jesus are those of a doctor.  They are able to cure physical illness.  They can heal religious sickness.  And they can treat the spiritual illness which afflicts each one of us at some point in life.  Pride is one thing which facilitates the spread of spiritual sickness.  So the hands of Jesus are willing to wash the feet of His apostles in a demonstration of humility.
	"{Jesus,} knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God, rose from supper, and laid aside His garments;" we read in John 13:3-5, "and taking a towel, He girded Himself about.  Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded."
	"And so when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and reclined {at the table} again," verses 12-17 explain, "He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you?  You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for {so} I am.  If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.  For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.  Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither {is} one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.  If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them."
	The real cause of all spiritual illness, though, is sin. Only the hands of Jesus are able to offer a cure for sin. This is true because these are hands which have made the ultimate sacrifice.  They have been bound.  And they have been nailed to the cross.
	"So the {Roman} cohort and the commander, and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him," we know from John 18:12.
	These same hands are nailed to a cross.  But these hands are stronger than the tomb.
	"And after eight days again His disciples were inside," John 20:26-27 notes, "and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, 'Peace {be} with you.'  Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.'"
	What does Jesus expect of us?  Does He not expect us to use our hands in sharing the Good News of His nail-scarred hands?
	"Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord," 2 Corinthians 5:11 points out, "we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences."
	"Therefore," Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:20, "we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."
	"And working together {with Him,}" Paul comments in 2 Corinthians 6:1-3, "we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain -- for He says, 'At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you'; behold, now is 'the acceptable time,' behold, now is 'the day of salvation'--  giving no cause for offense in anything, in order that the ministry be not discredited."
	The hands of Jesus are those of the Great Physician.  The hands which reach out in compassion tend to the physical needs of the sick.  The hands which overthrow the tables and cast out the moneychangers are able to heal religious illness.  And the hands which are first bound and then nailed to the cross in the great sacrifice have the power to cure spiritual illness.
	The power to heal lies in the hands of the physician.  But the outcome of the treatment depends on the patient.  Each patient chooses to follow or reject what the doctor offers.  How do you answer the Great Physician?
	"For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth," Hebrews 10:26-29 warns, "there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.  Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on {the testimony of} two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?"
	"How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" Hebrews 2:3 wonders.
	What hope is there, indeed, if we refuse to accept and follow the truth which will set us free?

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."