much as the Apostles would follow the example of Jesus in lesser and greater things alike (cf. Ac 4'^), we find that they adopted His gestures, whether for healings or for invocations of the Holy Spirit, or even in speaking. For the touching by laying on of hands, see Ac 6« 8"'- 13^ 19« and 9'« 28^ ; the last two are cases of healing, (rf) Jesus laid on hands to bless, as in the case of the little children (Mk 10'^ and II Mt. ). We read twice in Mk. of our Lord'.s taking children in His arms (Mk 9'" 10'" ivayKoKi- crdfievos), a gesture ascribed to Him in Mk. only, though a similar phrase is used of Simeon in Lk 2^^ iS4(aTo aiirb eh ras d7K(iXas [airov]. In another way we read of Jesus' blessing with a gesture of the hand, as at the Last Supper (Xa/Siiv— ei)\o7^(ros, Mk I4») and at the meal at Emmaus (Lk 24™- «). (c) Jesus breathed on His disciples when ' sending ' them after the Resurrection, saying, ' Receive ye the Holy Spirit : whosesoever sins ye forgive,' etc. (Jn 20-'-). Here the gesture is of a different nature ; our Lord, still using an outward sign, makes it signify that which is bestowed— the gift of the Spirit {wpeSfj-a S.yioi', without the article). Breath is the emblem of the Spirit, and by this gesture Jesus shows that the Holy Ghost is the ' Spirit of Christ ' as well as of the Father (see Westcott, in loc. ).
On the other hand, in some cases Jesus healed with a mere word. One cannot, indeed, always conclude that He did not use any outward gesture, such as touching, merely because an Evangelist is silent on the matter (e.g. cf. Mk 10'= with Mt 20^*) ; but in some cases, at least, Jesus healed in absence. The following are examples of cases where apparently no gesture was used : the paralytic (Mk 2'" and || Mt. Lk.), the man with the withered hand (Mk 3' and || Mt. Lk. ), the centurion's servant (Lk 7'"), the ten lepers (Lk 17"), the noble- man's son at Capernaum (Jn 4™^). We find the same difference in the healings in Acts ; thus, in g34 J41U jjQ gesture seems to have been used.
The use by our Lord of an outward gesture or sign in His ministerial acts was only in accordance with Jewish thought. We may recall Moses stretching forth his hand over the Red Sea (Ex 1416.21.86^ cf. 17" )> and, by way of contrast, the stretching out of the hand in OT as an act of punishment (Ex 7' ; see other instances collected by Plummer in his note on Lk 5"). It may be thought that this usage of Jesus in His ministry paved the way for His aftenvards appointing out- ward signs in Baptism and the Eucharist, and for the Apostles' employing them for other Christian rites, such as ordination.
2. Christ uses gestures to emphasize His words, or as an expression of emotion.— (") We read of the sfirtr/iituj forth if thr hand toward the dis- ciples wlieii .ifsiis claiined tlu'iii as His mother and His bretliren (Mt 12^") ; cf. St. Paul's gesture when addressing Agrippa (Ac 26'). We cannot put under this head the hand outstretched in Mt 14^' 26^, as there it does not express emotion ; but we may compare with the above gesture the hands outstretched in prayer (1 K 8==, Ps 28= 134=, 1 Ti 2% A 4th cent, writer has interpreted our Lord's ' stretching forth his hands' (cf. St. Peter, Jn 21'^) of His accepting suffering voluntarily (Testament of our Lord, i. 23). (b) We read of many gestures with the eyes. Jesus looked up to heaven at the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand (Mk G'" and || Mt. Lk.), in His last prayer before going to Gethsemane (Jn 17"), at the healing of the deaf man with an impediment (Mk 7"), and the raising of Lazarus (Jn If'). It is doubtless due to the first two of these passages that we find in many ancient Liturgies, from the Apostolic Constitutions onwards, this gesture ascribed to our Lord when He consecrated the Eucharist— as in the Greek St.
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