One fine spring day, on my father’s farm in the Mississippi Delta, my boyhood best friend and mentor, Jaybird, told a wonderful story to a group of us children … a story we’ve never forgotten.
As he slipped into the hypnosis of his bullfrog bass voice, we little ones clustered at his feet, leaning toward him like eager flowers toward the rising sun. He told us the story of Jesus.
We had heard Jesus Christ called different names — Savior, Messiah, the Nazarene, Son of Man — and our young minds were confused. Jaybird told Jesus’ story in a way we could understand.
The old farmer put his hands together, palm-to-palm. Though gnarled by years of toil, they were beautiful, monuments to a lifetime of tending crops.
Twice daily — at daylight and sundown — he clasped those hands together. At sunrise, he knelt before the Lord and asked for what he wanted that day; at sunset, he knelt before Him in thanks for what he got that day. More than eight decades later, these morning and night rituals of faith still comforted and reassured him.
“Notice how each hand holds up the other,” Jaybird told us. Then, dropping one hand, he continued. “Without the support of the other, this hand tires and falls.” He let the remaining hand go limp. “Now the hands are apart, unable to depend upon each other for support.”
He brought his hands together once again. “This is what Jesus does for you … every day. He holds you up.”
Jaybird explained that Jesus left His Father's side in Heaven and came down to this world and lived as a man among men. Each day He used His hands to embrace, to feed, to heal, even to raise the dead, but most of all, He placed His hands together to pray for the people of the earth.
With his hands still clasped together, Jaybird spoke again. “One evening, as Jesus knelt alone with His hands together in prayer, talking to His Father, evil men came and took Him away. They beat Him, cursed Him, spit on Him, and condemned Him to die. They placed a crown of thorns on His head … they taunted Him, they plunged a sword in His side … they pulled the praying hands apart and nailed them to the cross.” Here the old black man held his arms wide apart.
“But the evil men didn’t know — Jesus no longer needed to put His hands together in prayer. Beyond the cross, beyond the grave, He returned to His Father’s side, to the place where He had so often prayed that all God's children would someday be: Heaven.
Jesus’ hands are now wide apart again, beckoning to all: ‘Come to Me, come to My eternal embrace.’”
As stated in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Happy Easter, everyone. Jesus is risen … He awaits us.
Jimmy Reed is an Oxford, Mississippi resident, Ole Miss and Delta State University alumnus, Vietnam Era Army Veteran, former Mississippi Delta cotton farmer and ginner, author, and retired college teacher.
This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s latest book, entitled The Jaybird Tales.
Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)).
