Mustard Seed

Vol. 31, No. 11 -- December 2011
CHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE DEAF
9545 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910

www.ChristDeaf.org

The Hands of God

Juan and Domingo Mucha were cousins, members of the Tzeltal Indian tribe in Chiapas, Mexico. They had spent an entire night listening to recordings of Scripture in their own language on a friend's old, wind-up Victrola (an antique record player). The things that the Victrola said were shocking...

"Our God is in heaven.
Whatever His heart wanted, He has made.
Their false gods are made of silver and gold by man's hands.
They have mouths but they don't speak.
They have ears but they don't hear.
They have noses but they can't smell anything.
They have hands but they don't move.
They have feet but they don't walk.
They have throats but they are not able to talk.
Those who made these false gods and those who trust in them, are just like them." (Psalm 112)

Juan and Domingo were both officers in their village church, which had become a temple for Santo Tomas, whom they feared as a god. One day they went into the church to see for themselves if the things that the Victrola had said were true. After they locked the church doors, Juan and Domingo did what was unthinkable -- they looked directly at the faces of each of the saints. What they saw startled them.

"Look, the paint is chipping off this one... This one has a finger broken off and you can see what kind of wood it is made of... The dust is thick on this one's face. He can't be alive!" Juan then lifted the robe of one saint and found only a partial torso resting on a 3-legged stool, "like our women use to pat out tortillas!"

When Santo Tomas failed to strike them dead for looking him directly in the eye, Juan climbed on the altar to have a closer look. He gasped, "Santo Tomas is split down the back! There's a rat's nest in the crack!"

Juan and Domingo became determined to know the True God of whom their friend's Victrola had spoken. After making a long difficult trip, they met Bible translator Marianna Slocum who had produced the recordings. For the next five years Juan devoted his life to helping Marianna translate the Bible into the Tzeltal language. He also taught other Tzeltals to read so they could study the Bible for themselves and not need to depend on the old Victrola recordings.*

Contrast Juan's and Domingo's discovery with the amazing event that we celebrate at Christmas. The Almighty Creator God who sees, hears, helps, and saves, acquired real human eyes, physical ears, hands and feet with real fingers and toes. Compare the stiff wooden limbs of Santo Tomas to the loving hands of Jesus that touched, healed, and became crucified for us. While the lifeless mouth of Santo Tomas could say nothing, Jesus was and is the Word of Life.

Even though Jesus now reigns in heaven's glory, He still has hands and feet, eyes and ears, here on earth -- OURS. Our bodies and all their parts are His to use for His service.

~~Pastor Ron

*The source of this story is The Good Seed, by Marianna Slocum, 1988, Promise Publishing, Orange CA (chapter 8)
For information about the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators, go to www.wycliffe.org