XII

THE HAND OF JESUS

Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up. — MARK 9: 27.

HE earthly life of our Saviour was that of our common

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humanity. He has the parts and properties of a man. The Bible speaks of him as a man among men, as it speaks of Abraham and Moses and Paul among the men of their time. It records his generation and birth, incidents of his childhood and youth, what he said and did, and his sorrows, sufferings, and death. His life is associated with Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee and the valley of the Jordan and the city of Jerusalem, as the lives of other men are associated with the places where they lived.

However difficult or impossible to explain the union of the divine with the human in his nature, however great the mystery of godliness, the fact is clear that Jesus was a man, with a human body and a human mind, in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He spoke often of himself and while sometimes referring to the higher nature of which he was conscious, he usually spoke of himself as "the Son of man;" for example, "The Son of man came neither eating nor drinking; the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost; the Son of man is lord of the Sabbath." The evangelists speak of him always by the name given him at his birth, and they make mention of his face, head, eyes, mouth, hands, fingers, and feet. They drew no portrait, but they show him in many human attitudes and actions, as rising, sitting, walking, talking, sleeping, sorrowing, rejoicing, weeping, looking up to heaven, bowing his head, falling to the

ground, kneeling down, praying, giving up the ghost, and as dead and buried.

The ninth chapter of Mark records a particular instance of the use of his hand by Jesus. It was immediately after his transfiguration, when his face shone as the sun, and in the celestial radiance the great spirits of Hebrew story appeared, and Moses and Elijah held a sacred converse with Jesus. Peter, James, and John were enraptured with the scene and would fain have remained upon the mount. But that was not to be. The vision vanished. When Jesus came down from the mount, some celestial radiance still shone in his face, and while his friends were greeting and saluting him, a man in deep distress came rushing into his presence, imploring help for an only son who was suffering under a wretched malady. Some of the disciples had previously been importuned to cure the child; but their efforts were abortive. Jesus then calls for the child, who is again seized with a paroxysm, and the father renews the cry, "If thou canst do anything for us, have compassion on us, and help us." Jesus responds, "If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth.” Straightway comes the answer, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief," and then Jesus speaks the healing word, and the foaming and tearing child is pacified and composed, and lies so still and quiet that some think him dead. But, says the narrative, Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up, and delivered him to his father.

The Gospels use similar language with reference to other acts of healing mercy by our Lord, as in the case of Peter's wife's mother lying sick of a fever, when Jesus "took her by the hand, and lifted her up;" of Jairus' daughter, "He took her by the hand, and the damsel arose," and of the blind man at Bethsaida, "He took the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village, and put his hands upon his eyes, and he saw clearly." In another case, Matthew says that Jesus put forth his hand and

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touched an outcast leper, and immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Mark says of another case that Jesus put his fingers into the ears of one who was deaf and dumb, and touched the man's tongue, so that his ears were opened, and his tongue unloosed.

From childhood the hands of Jesus were employed in the work of the house and the carpenter shop. He knew the use of tools. His discourses show his familiarity with different kinds of work, as building, digging, plowing, planting, sowing, reaping, gathering into barns, mending garments, and sweeping the house. From these things he drew in parables many of the great lessons of Christianity-for example, that he "who heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, is like unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock;" that "the seed sown upon good ground, that is, in a good and honest heart, bringeth forth fruit with patience, some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty;" and that "he who putteth his hand to the plow, and looketh back, is not fit for the kingdom of God."

In wonder and admiration at what Jesus said, and at what he did, men asked, "From whence hath this man these things, and what wisdom is this that such mighty works are done by his hands." Mothers brought their children to him that he should lay his hands upon them, and he gratified the mothers, and laid his hands in blessing upon the children; Mark adds with characteristic detail that Jesus took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. At another time Jesus stretched forth his hand to his disciples, telling them that they were as dear to him as his mother and his brothers. In a storm upon the Sea of Galilee, when Peter was afraid and sinking in the waves, Jesus stretched forth his hand, and took hold of him. At a later day, when an ambitious mother desired a place for her sons, one on the right hand, the other on the left hand of Jesus in his kingdom, he replied, "To sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is

prepared of my Father." When Jesus would give an example of humility and of service to his ambitious disciples, he took a towel and with his hands girded himself, and poured water into a basin, and washed their feet, and wiped them with the towel wherewith he was girded. In his hands he took the bread and the cup of the communion, as he said, "This is my body," and "This is the new testament in my blood." In his mockery at Herod's court a reed was put in his right hand. At his crucifixion his hands were pierced with the nails that fastened him to the wood. The malefactors who were crucified with him were one on his right hand, the other on the left.

"See from his head, his hands, his feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down."

Upon his resurrection, on the evening of that day, he showed himself alive to his ten disciples, and while they were terrified and supposed they saw a spirit, he said: "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself;" and he showed them his hands and his feet. Finally, upon his ascension, as he was parted from his disciples, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.

The divine love and mercy thus came to mankind by the hand of Jesus. "He knew that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God." Later Jesus gave a vision of his glory to the beloved disciple, and as he called him to new duties and to a fearless courage in his service, John says: "He laid his right hand upon me."

From this study of the hand of Jesus, let us learn the value of this member of the body and our duty to follow his example in the ways of industry and usefulness, and of sympathy and blessing for our fellowmen. The physical and moral disorders of mankind call for the helpful hand of sympathy and compassion. Therefore the Son of God became Son of man and in his earthly life took men by the hand and lifted them up. It was the prac

tice of his own preaching. What he said men should do, he did. It was applied Christianity, and the same hand-to-hand touch of sympathy and help for the sorrows and sufferings and sins of mankind remains the duty of all who call themselves by the name of Christ. It is for every disciple to be as his Master and put his hand upon the sick, upon the blindman, upon the outcast, upon the orphan boy or girl, and lift them up. The poor are always with us. The little children still come naked into the world, and in every generation some come to their second childhood. Whenever you will you may put your hands upon them in blessing and loving care. Personal hand-to-hand contact with sorrow and wo are better than charity by proxy, by an official board, or a corporation. The warm hand of the friendly visitor is indispensable in carrying saving health to the sick and the forlorn.

Long years ago, about the close of the fifteenth century, Ursula Cotta lifted her hand in blessing upon a poor miner's boy who sang Christmas carols before her door. She invited him within and made him welcome to the good cheer of her Christian home. That boy grew up to be the reformer of the church, and in after years traced the influence of that hand upon his head in clearing his mind from superstitious reverence for monastic life, showing him that no vow of monk or man is so holy before God as the marriage vow, that a monk's cell has no sanctity equal to the sacredness of the fireside and the home.

In the latter part of the eighteenth century the hand of the first president of the United States was laid upon the head of a little boy in the city of New York. The boy had been given his name. In the last year but one of that century the hand of George Washington vanished from the scenes of time, and was laid in the dust of Mount Vernon. But the touch of that hand remained an immortal memory and helped to form a renowned character in American literature, and Washington Irving cheered the evening