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Palm Sunday 2006
SERMON - 10.15am, Joint Service: Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong and St. Luke's, Kennedy Town.
Sunday 9th April 2006
Revd. Matthew Vernon
Let's think about hands for a few minutes.
How do we use our hands?
Today we wave palm branches.
We remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem and the people waving branches.
People also cheered and waved at Jesus.
Perhaps they danced with their hands in the air.
Later this week, we remember how people used their hands in a different way.
Hands hurt Jesus.
Hands accused him and beat him.
Hands nailed his hands to the Cross.
We can use our hands for good or for ill.
We can hit other people or we can touch other people.
We can push or we can hug.
We can accuse or we can welcome.
We can grab or we can give.
We can restrict or we can help.
We can choose to use our hands for good or ill.
This week God calls us to think about how we use our hands.
God calls us to follow Jesus' example.
Do we use our hands to hurt other people or to heal other people?
Do we use our hands to deny God or to praise God?
Do we use our hands to place a heavy cross on other people or do we use our hands to help people carry the cross they bear.
On the order of service is a picture of some hands.
The Praying Hands is a beautiful drawing by Albrecht Durer.
Do you know the story behind the painting?
600 years ago, in a tiny village in Germany, there lived a family with eighteen children.
Two brothers shared a dream to pursue their talent of art.
But they knew that their family did not have enough money to pay for their education.
So the two boys came up with their own solution.
They would toss a coin.
The loser would work in the nearby mines.
The money would support his brother attending the art academy.
Then that brother, at the end of his studies, would support the other brother at the academy, either with sales of his artwork or if necessary, by working in the mines.
So one brother went to the art academy, while the other went to the dangerous mines.
After four years, the young artist returned to his village and family.
There was a triumphant homecoming dinner.
The artist rose from the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for his years of sacrifice.
His closing words were, "And know Albert, it is your turn. Now you can go to the academy to pursue your dream, and I will support you."
Albert sat there, tears streaming down his face.
Shaking his head, he sobbed and repeated over and over, "No ... no ...no!"
Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his eyes.
He looked down the long table, and, holding his hands out in front of him, said softly, "No, brother, it is too late for me to go. Look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been crushed at least once, and I've been suffering from arthritis so badly I cannot even hold a wine glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on canvas with a pen or brush. No brother, for me it is too late."
Then one day to pay homage to his brother Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his tortured hands.
The Praying Hands on the Order of Service.
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