Kiss the Hand

This morning I was reading through some very familiar passages in John's Gospel, the story of Jesus healing the man born blind in the ninth Chapter. Since this is so familiar, it is sometimes easy to just read over it quickly and not let the words really settle into our heart and mind.   This morning my attention was grabbed by these verses - John 9:35-38 NIV:

[35] "Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
[36] “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
[37] Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
[38] Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him."

The last three words are what stopped me this morning, the idea that it is possible to worship God face to face!  My first thought upon reading this was , I wonder how He worshipped the Lord.  I looked up the word translated here as worship, and it is quite interesting.  The original Greek word literally means to kiss the hand in reverence and could be compared to a dog, licking his master's hand.  I find this a strange term to be translated worship , although we see a similar behaviour in the tradition of kissing the ring of the King, to recognize their authority and submit oneself to that authority.

Going back to the story, this man's life has been radically changed, healed of his blindness, which was with him since birth, and now cast out of the synagogue as a result of his answers to the Pharisees.  He knew that He had been touched by God, or that Jesus was God's servant, based on the answers he gave during his questioning, but he didn't know what Jesus looked like (obviously). So when Jesus went to find him after He heard the man had been cast out, the man didn't realize it was Jesus talking to Him.  His immediate response to Jesus telling him that He was the Son of Man (a Messianic title) was to get down on his knees and kiss Jesus hand(s) and submit himself to Him.

What a great picture of a proper response to the revelation of God, present in our lives.  We should recognize His authority and submit ourselves to Him.

Lord, we want to experience Your touch in our lives in such a way that the only proper thing to do is bow down and worship You, kissing Your hand!

Amen!!