Easter celebrates the life of Jesus Christ before and after death. And the best way to celebrate His life is to heed His words. When a disciple asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He spoke the words of “The Lord’s Prayer.” When we recite it, we should take note that it reflects an expanded version of the Great Commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind...and... Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matthew 22:37-39). In both the great commandment and the great prayer, acknowledgment and worship of God comes first. But, the second, like unto it, expects us not only to treat others as we want to be treated, but as also we long for God to treat us. What a challenge for living.
My mother used to give chalk talks and her favorite program to present to church groups was the story of the “Praying Hands,” painted by German artist Albert Durer during the 14th century. Both Albert and his brother, two of 18 children, showed real promise as artists. However, their father, a hardworking goldsmith, barely could keep the family fed and clothed. There was no money for art school.
During their growing up years, the two brothers contemplated their dilemma. Then, they came up with a plan. One would go to school while the other worked to support the student. When the first became successful, he would, in turn, support the other. They tossed a coin and Albert won. He went to school first; his brother went to work in the mines.
Before Albert ever graduated, he was selling his paintings. Upon his return home, the family celebrated his success and he told his brother that the time had come for him to go to school. With tears in his eyes, the brother held up his hands which bore the scars and arthritis from working as a laborer. “It’s too late for me; I can’t even hold a paint brush anymore.”
Albert was heartbroken thinking that he had stolen his brother’s talent. Later that evening, Albert came upon his brother deep in prayer, asking God to give the talent that he once had to Albert. At that moment, Albert knew that he had to paint those praying hands of his brother, which became the artist’s signature work. It was one that younger artists copied again and again, always trying to emulate the sacrifice that Albert had captured in those gnarled and broken hands folded in prayer.
This famous painting which once hung in a church was destroyed in a fire, but the image remains in the countless works of later painters. One of my favorite renditions is one drawn by our former neighbor who was afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis. Her hands were as deformed as those in the painting, but she caught the essence of the famous work. Fortunately, the family had prints made of her original canvas and several consider themselves lucky to have one. I certainly appreciate mine.
My mother always ended her program by reciting Helen Steiner Rice’s poem, “The
Praying Hands. "As the poet nears the end of her verse, she pens these lines:
“For when we give ourselves away in sacrifice and love,
We are laying up rich treasures in God’s kingdom up above -
And hidden in gnarled, toilworn hands is the truest ART OF LIVING,
Achieved alone by those who’ve learned the VICTORY of giving -
Is that not the way we want to be treated by others and by God? Is not that kind of selflessness true adoration of God?
Easter has come and gone. Or has it?
2007
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