A number of years back, you probably heard some version of The
Hand Song by Nickel Creek on the radio. Chances
are that you heard a pop music version of the song, but the original Nickel Creek
bluegrass version is the best. Follow this link if you would like to listen to the
song before continuing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3MwvG7tmpo
The boy only wanted to
give Mother something
And all of her roses
had bloomed.
Looking at her as he
came rushing in with them
Knowing her roses were
doomed,
All she could see were
some thorns buried deep
And tears that were cried
as she tended his wounds
And she knew it was
love
It was one she could
understand
He was showing his
love,
And that's how he hurt
his hands.
There are sacrifices, and then there are sacrifices. The first type of sacrifice is the common
type of sacrifice where you decide to give up a few years of vacation so that
you can save up to buy that boat you always wanted. It is a sacrifice of pleasure in order to get
something you desire even more. There is
nothing wrong with this type of sacrifice, but it is not the type of sacrifice
we think about when Jesus says, “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be
my disciple.”
Followers of Jesus
have a certain type of sacrifice in mind when they talk about taking up the
cross. It is a sacrifice that shapes
what it means to be a follower of Christ in the first place. It is a sacrifice that is not entirely
common, so we hang crosses in our places of worship and around our necks so
that we cannot forget.
“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be
my disciple.” When disciples of
Christ hear those words, “carry the cross and follow me,” they think of an act
that is done out of love for someone else that costs something. Like the child who picked roses for his mother
because he wanted her to feel loved and wanted her eyes to sparkle with joy, it
is a sacrifice that cost him some bloody and scarred hands.
When disciples of
Christ hear the words, “carry the cross and follow me,” they picture a particular
sacrifice; the sacrifice of Jesus.
He still remembers
that night as child
On his mother's knee
She held him close and
she opened her bible
And quietly started to
read,
And seeing a picture
of Jesus he cried out,
"Momma, he's got
some scars just like me."
And he knew it was
love
It was one he could
understand
He was showing his
love,
And that's how he hurt
his hands.
When we walk around town and grasp the cross around our
necks, we are reminded of a sacrifice done out of love for us that cost
something dearly. How far is Jesus
willing to go to show us clearly that love and life always prevail? The cross.
As we feel the edges of the cross under our fingers, we are
reminded once again what it means to be a follower of Jesus. It is to be a person who finds life and joy
in sacrifice. Because of that, we follow Jesus by loving others enough to
sacrifice something of ourselves for their sake.
Taking up the cross, we are fine getting along without material
pleasures so that someone else can have food and shelter…so that someone else
can find life.
Taking up the cross, we defend the weak and help the
outsider, even if it means clashing with the ideologies that members of our
family hold. Some of us lose our
families so that someone who is scorned by others can feel loved.
Taking up the cross, we seek to help the person on who everyone
else has given up; the lost cause. We do
this not because it is easy (it is not), but because Jesus never gave up on us. On the cross, Jesus never gave up loving a
single one of us.
As noble as all of that sounds, I must admit that taking up
the cross is not easy. It is
painful. It leaves scars on our
hands. But, as followers of Christ, we take
up the cross anyway because these sacrifices are our way of telling Jesus’ story
of love and new life. When we follow
Jesus and when we make these Christ-like sacrifices, it is as if we too have
found life again, even when we might have lost a bit of our own lives in the process.
Now the boy's grown
and moved out on his own
When Uncle Sam comes
along.
A foreign affair, but
our young men were there
And luck had his
number drawn.
It wasn't that long
till our hero was gone
He gave to a friend
what he learned from the cross.
And they knew it was
love
It was one they could
understand
He was showing his
love,
And that's how he hurt
his hands.
Grace
is not cheap. It is not a cheaply made
toy that is handed out to everyone, but is of such low quality that no one
cares when it is lost. Grace is
costly. It comes with a price: Jesus’
own bloody and scarred hands.
Grace
is a sacrifice. But, that is what makes
it grace. It is a sacrifice, for our
sake. It shows us that we were worth the
purchase. We were worth the love.
When
we feel that cross beneath our fingers, and are reminded of Jesus’ sacrifice of
grace, our eyes cannot help but be opened to see those around us who also need
that sort of grace. So, we lean down and
pick up our crosses, because following in ways of sacrifice are how we tell
Christ’s story of love. Following in
ways of sacrifice are how we give life to people who have somehow lost their own
life. Sacrificing our hands is always
worth the cost. So I sing:
And they knew it was
love
It was one they could
understand
We were showing God’s
love,
And that's how we hurt
our hands.
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