Hands of Jesus

Jesus liked to work with his hands. One significant thing that Jesus did with his hands was to wash his disciple’s feet. It was also one of the last things he did with his hands before having them nailed to a cross. Washing feet was a symbolic act communicating love and a willingness to be a servant. Jesus taught his disciples that they needed to wash feet, too. Hands of Mercy is an organization that seeks to be the hands of Jesus reaching out to love others in his name. HOM has been specifically called to help love the people of Mexico and we have found no lack of dirty feet to wash. HOM is asking people from the U.S. to take time out of their busy schedules, give sacrificially and take a risk to love others. This always means getting stuff dirty, broken or lost. It usually means feeling uncomfortable. It makes some people so uncomfortable that they ask whether we should be washing feet at all in Mexico. They sometimes ask if it wouldn’t be better for Mexicans to wash Mexican feet. They argue that we could train them so they could do the work themselves. Some even protest that it isn’t effective to wash feet because people tend to get them dirty again and that might set up an atmosphere of dependency with people coming back to have their feet washed. Perhaps, it would be good if the government would help pave more roads so people’s feet wouldn’t get so dirty. Others observe that some people’s feet don’t seem that dirty while others are so dirty that it is obviously their own fault, that they probably like dirty feet or that they should try harder to keep them clean. It is always more comfortable to focus on the condition of the feet than to stay focused on our need to wash. Of course, HOM doesn’t really wash feet in Mexico, although maybe we should. We build homes for needy people as a symbol of God’s love and grace. We build them in the name of Jesus, who gave us the example of washing feet. My prayer is that we never get sidetracked by asking the wrong questions or suggesting that God use someone else. We need to roll up our sleeves, get on our knees and be the hands of Jesus.

Brian McCoy