*SCRIPTURE READING John 13:1-6
13 Before the Festival of Passover, Jesus knew that his time had come to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them fully.
2 Jesus and his disciples were sharing the evening meal. The devil had already provoked Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew the Father had given everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was returning to God. 4 So he got up from the table and took off his robes. Picking up a linen towel, he tied it around his waist.5 Then he poured water into a washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he was wearing.6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
LEADER The Word of God that is still speaking.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE Working Hands Rev. Donna Goltry
Peter’s question to Jesus is a deep one. Why would Jesus stoop to washing his feet? Peter found it unthinkable.
The job of washing feet was a job for servants. It was an unsavory task. Most people then traveled by walking, arriving after traveling with dirty, dusty, sore feet. Feet that were rough, maybe even with open sores from stumbling over rocks or tripping on branches. Tired, worn-out feet.
If a host was not wealthy enough to have a servant to dispatch to washing the feet of a guest, the good host did the next best thing, providing a pitcher of water and a towel for guests to wash their own feet. Hosts would not think of stooping so low as to wash feet. It was beneath their dignity.
But this is precisely why Jesus washed Peter’s feet on that very night when he broke bread and shared wine with his disciples for the final time. Jesus was demonstrating the kind of disciples they must grow into being: ones who would lovingly do unsavory tasks, like washing a stranger’s feet when this is what was needed. Leave dignity aside.
Jesus’ hands were willing hands. Willing to do unsavory work, regardless.
Tom Berlin, in his book study, Restless Love, got me to thinking about what kind of hands Jesus had. Here is the passage that triggered my thoughts:
“Throughout the Bible, God calls people to do difficult things. Keeping the Great Commandment to love God fully and to love your neighbor as yourself may be one of the most difficult. While our innate tendencies to self-centered actions and responses are a part of the complexity, another part of our difficulty is found in the remarkable example of love expressed in Jesus’ life that we are called to follow. Jesus shows the hands and heart of love. When you read the Gospels and picture Jesus as he lived and carried out his ministry, you can see his hands at work. He offers a hand up for the paralyzed man healed by his touch He puts a hand out to the woman caught in adultery and puts her on her feet with an experience of mercy and new life based on her future decisions rather than her past mistakes. Jesus’ expressive hands move when he shares his wisdom with a crowd about life with God through a parable [that he shares].” [1]
Berlin describes several more ways Jesus used his hands.
- Uses them to pass out bread to feed the hungry 5,000.
- “Places a gentle hand on the shoulder of a mourning father as the father weeps over the death of his daughter, then Jesus extends his healing hands to revive her.”
- He is even-handed when he shares communion with his followers. Even knowing Judas as his betrayor, he offered the bread and cup to him.
- He folds his hands in prayer, he lifts his hands in thanksgiving.
- Allows his hands to be wounded as he is nailed to the cross. [2]
Just think about the many ways Jesus used his hands: offering a hand out or a hand up, showing kindness, being useful in handing out bread, giving gentle touch to comfort a grieving father, then reviving his daughter, folding them in prayer, even suffering injury as they are nailed to the cross.
As I was preparing this message, an old phrase kept dancing in my head: Jesus hands were kind hands. Finally, I looked it up on the internet. And I was reminded it is an old familiar children’s song. And guess what? It is even in our hymnal! Turn to page 273.
“Jesus’ Hands Were Kind Hands” by Margaret Cropper
To the tune of Au Clair De La Lune
- Jesus’ hands were kind hands, doing good to all,
healing pain and sickness, blessing children small,
washing tired feet, and saving those who fall;
Jesus’ hands were kind hands, doing good to all.
- Take my hands, Lord Jesus, let them work for you;
Make them strong and gentle, kind in all I do.
Let me watch you, Jesus, till I’m gentle too,
Till my hands are kind hands, quick to work for you.
But, folks, it’s not enough to simply describe the many ways Jesus used his hands. We must go deeper. We must ask, why? The straight-forward answer is Jesus’ hands were connected to his heart. He used his hands as tools, as an appendage, to carry out the urgency of his heart to help others, to love others.
He used his hands as a flesh and blood tool to connect his heart with his actions. And in the process, he taught us how, we too, can to live by the Great Commandment to love God and love neighbor, using our hands as well as our hearts to do so.
We can gently offer our hand to a friend who sad or lonely. Or extend a helping hand by giving out food or water to someone who is hungry or thirsty.
And lest we forget on this Labor Day weekend, another essential use of our hands are for work to earn a paycheck that provides for ourselves and those who depend on us. Working hands are an honest answer to providing for our livelihood. Whether it is nailing a roof, waiting tables, typing memos, making floral arrangements, writing a book, no matter the form work takes, it is our task and one for which we can give thanks. And that brings in a needed paycheck!
Yet too often we take our hands for granted. It may only be when they are injured or deformed in some manner, that we pause to appreciate how helpful our hands truly are. Try writing with a broken finger. Rheumatoid arthritis makes simple things like opening a jar hard.
And for those with differences like a shortened forearm, they face a lifetime of work-arounds to be able to do daily tasks. It is so amazing the ways people compensate and live good and productive lives despite these challenges.
I’ll call her Penny. She was born with shortened arms and fingers. It was not always easy for her. In her younger years, she felt unwanted and untuneful. Then she encountered a special pastor who took her under his wings. He shared with her that God loved her, just as she was. This was life-changing for her.
Penny took on the job of preparing communion for her church each month. She came early to slowly and meticulously prepare the bread and the juice. What would have been a 15-minute task for another took her twice as long. But she had great joy and pride in serving the church this way.
One time I offered to carry the chalice for her and got a snarky response: I can do it. She saw through my seeming helpfulness. It was really judgmental and pity. That morning, she taught me a lesson. Never again did I interfere, thinking that because I could help her do it faster, it was better. She wanted to do it herself.
Penny taught me a lot. Her work with her hands was an act of praise to God. Once she had found God’s love, she wanted to pass it on to others through her service.
She took great satisfaction in her job well done. She saw herself as capable.
As we prepare for our ushers to come forward, lift up your hands and gaze at them. Think of how you have used them already this morning. Have you prepared food for someone in your household. Did you shake hands with someone during our welcoming time, and saw a smile come over their face?
Kind hands.
Working hands.
Hands that are used to help others.
May you your hands be an instrument for an outpouring of love from your heart in your own special way. And happy Labor Day.
[1] Tom Berlin, Reckless Love: Jesus’ Call to Love Our Neighbor, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2019, 114.
[2] Ibid.
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