Have you noticed all the different types of hands? A baby has small, soft, and chubby hands. But then you get a professional basketball player with huge hands.

Now, I want you to think about the hands of Jesus. Can you see him as a baby in a manger? Can you see His gentle, soft, innocent little hands? But keep looking and you will notice his hands change. They become the rough, tough, and calloused hands of a carpenter. But finally, you will notice His hands become that of a healer.

Matthew 8:1 (ESV) When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus STRETCHED OUT HIS HAND AND TOUCHED HIM, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Coming out of COVID I have a slight understanding of what it would have felt like to be isolated because of a highly contagious and deadly virus. But even in my isolation I always had access to those hands. Except, now they were different. Now they bore the marks of Calvary’s cruel nails.