Dirty, dirty hands and the Kingdom
"In whatever problem or suffering we face, Jesus getting his hands dirty with the problems of this world is what we need and what in the gospels we are promised." NT Wright
This quote is the key from Wright's commentary on the passage in Luke 8:40-56. I have been thinking through this quote for about 10 days now. The more I think about it the deeper it becomes. It's like a Chinese Finger Trap. The more I pull at it the tighter it grips. It's starting to get really tight now.
As a Believer and admitted Follower of Jesus I have chosen to try to understand his teachings and then form my thoughts and actions around my understanding of those teachings. In this particular case it means that I must get my hands dirty. I like to have clean hands. I like to help people that don't make me uncomfortable. I like to spend time with people that think and act somewhat like me. That is not what Jesus did. In the case of these verses he touched an unclean woman and a dead body. In both cases he didn't have to draw attention to the situations but he did. In both cases he chose to get his hands dirty. In both cases healing was brought to them.
As I was getting ready to go home for lunch some people came into the office to ask for money because they were homeless. I wanted to let my secretary take care of it and just hide in my office until they left. I was going to until this phrase crept into my head. Would Jesus just sit here and wait for them to leave? No. He would go out there and help. So I went out and helped.
I wanted to go home to a nice lunch with my wife. There was someone else there. I needed to be in that meeting too. Later that day we had 8 kids at the house. My hands were continuing to get dirtier and dirtier.
Maybe one way to see how my "walk with Jesus" is doing is to look at my hands. Are they nice and clean? Or are they beat up and dirty like Jesus' hands? May we, who confess Christ as our Lord, have the dirtiest hands.
This quote is the key from Wright's commentary on the passage in Luke 8:40-56. I have been thinking through this quote for about 10 days now. The more I think about it the deeper it becomes. It's like a Chinese Finger Trap. The more I pull at it the tighter it grips. It's starting to get really tight now.
As a Believer and admitted Follower of Jesus I have chosen to try to understand his teachings and then form my thoughts and actions around my understanding of those teachings. In this particular case it means that I must get my hands dirty. I like to have clean hands. I like to help people that don't make me uncomfortable. I like to spend time with people that think and act somewhat like me. That is not what Jesus did. In the case of these verses he touched an unclean woman and a dead body. In both cases he didn't have to draw attention to the situations but he did. In both cases he chose to get his hands dirty. In both cases healing was brought to them.As I was getting ready to go home for lunch some people came into the office to ask for money because they were homeless. I wanted to let my secretary take care of it and just hide in my office until they left. I was going to until this phrase crept into my head. Would Jesus just sit here and wait for them to leave? No. He would go out there and help. So I went out and helped.
I wanted to go home to a nice lunch with my wife. There was someone else there. I needed to be in that meeting too. Later that day we had 8 kids at the house. My hands were continuing to get dirtier and dirtier.
Maybe one way to see how my "walk with Jesus" is doing is to look at my hands. Are they nice and clean? Or are they beat up and dirty like Jesus' hands? May we, who confess Christ as our Lord, have the dirtiest hands.
Comments