First The Trembling

A well-known preacher was invited to deliver a sermon in the chapel of a college for the deaf. He described it as a “Preacher’s paradise, because you get two laughs for every joke; when you reach the punch line one laugh comes from those who can hear and a few seconds later when the sign language interpreter catches up, you get a second laugh.” He said he noticed that on several occasions during the sermon the sign language interpreter, in a very graceful way, would point to the palms of her hands. Later he learned that pointing to the palms of the hands is the sign for Jesus Christ. How appropriate! Of all the signs that might have been chosen for Jesus, they chose the nailprints in the palms of His hands to symbolize who He was. The New Testament writers take the same approach, saying to us that somehow the crucifixion sums it all up. If you really want to get close to Jesus,…