No Hands but Ours 2 - Meek and Mild?

For the second in our series of blog posts reflecting on the theme of 'No Hands but Ours', Adam Dickson, SCM member, and student at The Queen's Foundation, Birmingham, reflects on what it might mean for us if we really saw the world through Jesus' eyes.

You can book your place at our 'No Hands but Ours' event here

When I think of the idea that “Christ has no body... no hands... no feet on earth but ours,” I can't help but wonder what it would be like to first see the world with Jesus' eyes, and if I'm honest then I must admit that the truth is far from comfortable. Consider, for example, Mark 1:40-45, where Jesus cleanses a leper. Leprosy was a scandalous disease during Jesus' time, one which caused its sufferers to be socially ostracised and prohibited from worshipping in the Temple. Defying all known purity codes and social norms of the time and culture, Jesus touched the leper and healed him, thus restoring both his health and his dignity as a human being. The text tells us that Jesus was “moved with pity,” although this is a somewhat crude translation. The original meaning infers that Jesus' guts turned over in a wrenchingly powerful combination of compassion and anger; compassion toward the leper for his suffering, and anger at the systems of society that caused him to be isolated and discriminated against.

During the course of His ministry, Jesus had a habit for forming intimate relationships with those groups of people who existed on the “margins” of society: lepers, fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes, disabled individuals, and the destitute. In other words, Jesus gravitated toward those people who suffered the most, be it from illness or persecution, and in doing so He confronted those powers which elevated suffering and denied people justice. We see a profound instance of this in Mark 12:41 – 13: 2, when Jesus witnesses a poor widow giving her last two copper coins into the Temple treasury while the rich folk around her “contributed from the abundance of their wealth.” Often misread as a visual parable extolling the virtues of charitable giving, this narrative rather has Jesus criticising those with riches for neglecting this destitute woman. His response:

“Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down” (Mark 13:2). The prophecy of the Temple's destruction was a damning indictment on the centre of wealth, power, and (thus) oppression it had become, and in it we have a vivid reminder that God's word of life eventually dismantles every system of death.

This Jesus, as God-made-flesh, was far from meek and mild; He embraced the poor, the sick, and the marginalised, and in doing so brought Himself into confrontation with the ruling powers of His time. The result, as all of us know well, was His crucifixion; the sacrificial giving of Himself for the sake of humanity. When I think about this Jesus, I dread to think what it would be like to be His hands and feet on earth. To be Jesus' hands and feet on earth means living as He did, to “bring good news to the poor... proclaim release to the captives... the recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour” (Luke 4:18-19). This is the life we are called to lead, even if, as in Jesus' case, it leads to persecution and death at the hands of the very ruling powers we confront and challenge.

The question I pose to all of us is the same as the one I continually pose to myself: “What does it look like today?” The answer may not look very attractive to those of us who wish to lead comfortable and secure lives, like the rich young ruler who walked away (Mark 10:17-27). But for those of us who, like Jesus, are compelled by the limitless love of God to embrace the untouchable and confront the world's systems of death and destruction... it looks terrifying, exciting, and beautiful all at once.