Like the back of my hand

'The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.' – Luke 6:40

A popular phrase among Christians is 'We are the hands and feet of Jesus'.

This is based on the scripture 'Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.' (1 Corinthians 12:27). Christians take this to mean that we are to live as Jesus Christ would - in speech, action and thought. Tall order, right?

Like the back of my hand

Another popular and perhaps more widely known saying is: 'I know this like the back of my hand.'. This phrase signifies the speaker is intimately familiar with whatever they are talking about. They know it as well as their own hands they see and use daily.

What do these two phrases have in common?

Whether talking about the hands of Jesus or knowing something like the back of my hand, both these phrases speak of a deep familiarity. 

Carpenter's hands

What does it mean to truly know Jesus' hands? To be his hands and feet, surely I must know what they look like so I can imitate their actions?

Jesus' hands are not like mine.

They are not soft, safe and supple. They are calloused and dirty from handing out healing and hope to the broken and homeless. His feet are worn and hard from walking off the beaten track to those who are cast off from society. They are workers hands - gathering the harvest, soothing pain, washing feet and fashioning wood.

The very materials our Saviour used in his livelihood were instruments of his death - nails driven through wood, hands, feet.

What do His hands look like now?

Crucified hands

'While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." ' – Matthew 26:26

Christ’s body was broken, spent on behalf of those who He loved.

The hands of Jesus are marred, broken and pierced for our transgressions, His feet nailed to a cross that rightfully belonged to us. Behold, the kings and queens of nothing, it should have read above our heads... but Christ loved too much. Charged with being only king of the Jews yet eternally titled King of Kings, Christ hung in our place.

As we accept his sacrifice, we too must accept the death to self Jesus requires. We must endure humiliation of the body and spirit from a people who don’t know the name of the Lord. We too must be dispensable – counting our lives as loss so we may serve others as Christ serves us.

His ruined hands cup our feet in servant leadership. His broken hands hold ours through the darkest nights.

So then, let us truly be the hands and feet of Jesus – cracked, calloused and raw.

I pray that we may be marked by lives laid down for friends, enemies, and strangers – so that others may know we belong to our Master and find salvation through his touch.

Let us know Jesus' hands even better than our own.