TOUCHED

Genesis 23:1-24:51; Matthew 8:1-17; Psalm 9:13-20; Proverbs 3:1-6

“’Come and stay with us, you who are blessed by the Lord.’”

“’Lord’, the man said, ‘if you want to, you can make me well again.’  Jesus touched him.  ‘I want to,’ He said.  ‘Be healed!’  And instantly, the leprosy disappeared.” 

“…When Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her.”

“Lord, have mercy on me.  See how I suffer at the hands of those who hate me.  …Save me, so I can praise you publicly, …so I can rejoice that you have rescued me.”

Touch is a funny thing.  In today’s hurry up, crowded world, we hardly think about a brief brush in the elevator, a bump in the hallway, or even a handshake.  They’re just part of life.  But a caress, a hug, any contact that lasts a little too long… risks rejection as an invasion of our personal space.  Athletes talk about having the right “touch.”  In life, “look, but don’t touch” often seems the safer course.  There’s no denying touching can be hazardous.  Illness spreads.  One enters into relationship, and risks transparency.  There is probably only One who never worried about such things, or about what others thought.  Jesus came with the specific intent to touch every one of us intimately and irreversibly.  Spiritual lepers are not excepted. 

The leper’s implied question was an honest, and even considerate, one.  Read it: “Jesus, are you sure?  Do you really want to risk it?”  On a deeper level, “Jesus, is your heart in it?”  Finally, deeper still, “Jesus, do you understand how sick I really am?”  Those questions sound familiar, just like the fear of true intimacy with God.  But Jesus stands ready to blow right through all of them.  He wants to heal.

Isolation, despair or disappointment absolutely can blind us to future possibilities, whatever the context.  The leper, though, held onto his hope and dared to keep dreaming the impossible in spite of his circumstances.  When Jesus came to touch, then, the leper was ready and willing.  Too many times, I keep Jesus at arm’s length.   But He still wants to touch and heal.  He willingly exposed Himself to literally all manner of human disease and frailty, and came away transformed and victorious.  He invites me – us! - to follow Him, and share His victory. 

Praise God we have a Savior who comes to touch us!  He comes not just to be around us, to talk to us, or to set an example for us, but to actually touch us.  It is time to quit resisting the intimacy of His spiritual touch.  With the Psalmist, I say, “Arise, O Lord! Do not let mere morals defy you!”