Mark 1:41 NIV
Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his
hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be
clean!"
Does It Matter Who Touches You?
More than thirty years ago Mary Jo and I started
doing things together. We went to
movies, went out to eat, her family had me over to the house for Sunday
dinners, we went to the New Orleans Jazz Fest, walked along the Lakefront, hung
out in the French Quarter and played on the same volleyball team. Although Mary Jo didn’t have a boyfriend and
I didn’t have anyone I was dating, we had a friendship that was not in a sense
romantic. We had never kissed, we didn’t
even hold hands. Then after a year and a
half of maintaining our relationship this way, we both started working at the
same Christian camp in North Carolina.
Mary Jo had arrived a week before I did and so we both were happy to
meet again after being apart. My first
afternoon there the two of us went hiking along a trail that went through the
woods on the campus and to my complete surprise Mary Jo took my hand and held
it as we walked. It felt like
electricity flew through my body. We had
never held hands before, not even when we prayed and I was stunned by the
sensation of being touched by her. On
that day, touch, even as benign as holding a hand, initiated a chain of events
that completely changed our lives.
Touch is perhaps the most powerful of all our senses
as it is the only one that impacts the entire body. As a result, touch is a dynamic force that fuels
a wide range of emotions. Even our use
of the term “touch” in its metaphorical suggests an effect that is
significant. If you say that “she
touched you” it implies something much deeper than the gathering of sensory
information, it means that somehow the person impacted your heart….the center
of who you are. Are you comfortable
being touched? Do you like to touch
others? Do you find that certain people
like it when you touch them? How
important is touch to the Church or even to the practice of Christianity?
There are reasons to mistrust the use of touch and
the Bible gives several examples of how touch is misused. Old and blind Isaac wanted to give a blessing
from God to his oldest son Esau but the younger son stepped in without the
father’s knowledge and pretended to be Esau.
He put lambskin on over his arms and neck so that when his father
touched him, he would be tricked into believing he was the older and hairier
brother. Jacob got away with the ruse
too and stole the blessing from his brother.
Jacob went close to his father
Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the
hands are the hands of Esau." He
did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau;
so he blessed him. (Genesis 27:22-23 NIV) Both Isaac and the older brother were
devastated when they discovered what Jacob had done.
Have you ever been fooled by someone’s touch? You thought you were loved but you actually
weren’t. You believed the touch meant
you could trust the person; assumed the touch would be good for you. How many have been touched for evil reasons,
corrupt reasons. When Amnon touched his
sister Tamar, it was because he lusted after her but had no love for her. His touch destroyed the personality of Tamar
and left her emotionally crippled.
But he (Amnon)
refused to listen to her (Tamar), and since he was stronger than she, he raped
her. Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than
he had loved her. Amnon said to her, "Get up and get out!" "No!" she said to him. "Sending
me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already done to
me." But he refused to listen to
her...Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornamented robe she was wearing.
She put her hand on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went…And Tamar
lived in her brother Absalom's house, a desolate woman. (2 Samuel 13:14-16, 19, 20b NIV)
In contrast, when Jesus touched, He healed. His hands brought joy and comfort. When
the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of
sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. (Luke 4:40 NIV) Children were blessed by His touch. And
he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
(Mark 10:16 NIV) The elderly were
comforted by the feel of His hand. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward
and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." Then he put his hands on her, and immediately
she straightened up and praised God. (Luke 13:12-13 NIV) Crowds thronged to Jesus, the people wanting to
touch Him because of what they believed would happen if they did. People brought all their sick to him and
begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who
touched him were healed. (Matthew 14:35-36 NIV)
The Apostles, following Jesus lead also used touch
to bless and change the lives of those they touched. Then
Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts
8:17 NIV) Even non-Apostles were
instruments of God’s work by their use of touch. Then
Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said,
"Brother Saul, the Lord-Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were
coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy
Spirit." Immediately, something
like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was
baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. (Acts
9:17-19 NIV) Touch became the way believers
in Christ confirmed God’s calling to ministry and service. In
the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: …While they were
worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me
Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted and prayed, they
placed their hands on them and sent them off.
(Acts 13:1-3 NIV) Paul
the Apostle especially used touch to bless and heal. When
Paul placed his hands on them (new Christians in Ephesus), the Holy Spirit came
on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:6 NIV) Paul followed Jesus’ lead and let touch be
the instrument though which God healed many.
There was an estate nearby that
belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his
home and for three days entertained us hospitably. His father was sick in bed, suffering from
fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his
hands on him and healed him. When this
had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. (Acts
28:7-9 NIV)
Touch has been lost as a way to bring the love of
our Savior to the world. Many have been
psychologically damaged by touch and are afraid of what it might do. Others have lost their confidence in God to
help them and aren’t interested in being touched by the Lord’s people. Mostly though, Christians have stopped
believing what God can do through them when they touch others. We find in the book of Hebrews that touch is
one of the rudimentary ways God uses His people to change lives. It is “basic Christianity”. Therefore
let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not
laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of
faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the
resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
And God permitting, we will do so. (Hebrews 6:1-3 NIV)
Let us not worry ourselves much about why Christians
don’t use touch as instruments of God.
They have the Holy Spirit in them so as they gain experience as
believers, they will gradually learn how to live with God as part of them. A critical component of Christianity is touching
people and believing that a supernatural work of the Lord will happen when
doing so. Recently I was stunned by how
someone I touched through the Holy Spirit was healed by God. Years ago the Lord told me to pray by
touching a couple who for years had been childless. In three months they called me to say that
the next month they conceived. We have
no right to give up on our ability to touch people who need God’s help! If God flows in you, He will flow out of you
and your touch is what He wishes to use to bring comfort and help to the world. Touch the weak, touch the broken, touch the
proud and touch all who feel like they have lost. Touch and God will touch through you.
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