One of the conflicts that Jesus had with the Pharisees was over the idea of eating with unwashed hands. Most common people ignored this rule, as the labor involved in acquiring water as well as the necessary utensils for washing hands would be hard to come by unless one were wealthy. So Jesus and his disciples often ate with unwashed hands, trusting to the blessing of God rather than the cleanliness of their hands.
If you can imagine the hands that grasped the unleavened bread that night, you would have noticed that they were not delicate hands. They were the hands of a man who had grown up in a rough trade – a blue collar trade. Those hands were calloused from labor and brown from the sun. When rough fisherman and poor agricultural workers looked at the man Jesus, they could tell from his hands that they could trust him. He was one of them.
Those same hands would be baptized to new life through crucifixion and resurrection. When the disciple saw the hands of the Savior following the resurrection, they bore not just the mark of the Carpenter’s trade, but the marks of the carpenter’s nails. Those hands that broke the bread and tore the wine were the hands that were nailed to a tree, holding up the Savior, who was broken and bleeding for the sins of the world.
When you see the hands of the Savior today, they still bear the marks of those nails. Far more than any callouses or strength that might have appealed to the common Jew of the ancient world, these marks call out to you, “You can trust me. Trust where I lead. Trust my presence. Trust my love. I will never leave you. There is no price I have not already paid to bless you.”
In 2025, we can trust the hands of the Savior. They are strong enough to pull us out of the miry clay, but they are skilled enough to bind up our wounds and heal us. The hands that bled are the hands that now heal. The hands nailed fast to the tree are the hands that now guide and direct. In 2025, let us determine to trust these hands, wherever they lead and however they direct.
Nathan Writes 