I remember a picture I saw of a little newborn baby. In the center of the picture was a tiny little hand holding on to its mother’s finger.
That picture reminded me of the night that Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem many years ago. Mary would look at and hold, as most young mothers do, those tiny little fingers and hands. Little did she know that it was God with us, (Matthew 1:23), and in that little child was the fullness of God, (John 14:10 & 11, Colossians 1:15).
Years later those young hands would work in a carpenter shop and later take a few small loaves of bread and miraculously feed over 5,000. They would also take dirt and spittle and give sight to the blind. They also made the lame to walk. Those hands when outstretched could calm the most violent storm and yet tenderly hold a young child that wanted to be near.
Yes, those hands were brutally beaten and then spikes driven through them and they stayed nailed to a cross on a hill in Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago until there was no life left in them.
It was then and there, that a way was made for our sins to be forgiven, (John 3:16, Colossians 1:14).
It will also be those hands that will be waiting to greet us and take us into heaven and eternity, (John 14:3 & 6). See you in Church next Sunday.