Just then a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding came up behind him. She touched the fringe of his robe, for she thought, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” [Matthew 9:20-21 (NLT)]
Imagine the anguish of the woman with the blood disorder. Because Levitical law declared that anyone who touched her would be considered unclean, she’d been cut off from friends and family for twelve years. Sexual union would defile her husband so she couldn’t marry and, if she’d been married, her husband would have divorced her. Because her defilement would spread to anything she touched (be it food, cups or cushions), she was isolated in her own home. While the anemia, pain, stress, and public humiliation she endured because of her disorder must have been awful, perhaps the agony of being a pariah and unable to physically connect with people was even worse. It was her responsibility to make sure she didn’t defile others by touching them so she shouldn’t have been anywhere near a crowd. She certainly shouldn’t have touched a man (or his clothing) and could have been severely punished for her previously action. No wonder she tried to sneak unnoticed through the crowd to touch Jesus’ robe.
In the 1980s, AT&T urged us to “Reach Out and Touch Someone.” Granted, they meant with their phone service but now, when it is so easy to communicate with cell phones, email, texts, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and Facetime, it is important to reach out and actually touch! Sunday mornings, there’s usually a lot of friendly touching with handshakes and hugs when we greet one another at our church in the park. Recently, after greeting Jimmy with a friendly handshake, my husband sat with him at a picnic table. (I previously wrote about Jimmy in “It Takes All Kinds.”) A man with what can be described as a colorful past, he’s been worshipping with us and joining in Bible study for the last several weeks. That morning, Merna walked over to greet the men at the table. Putting one hand on Jimmy’s back, she bent over to talk with him and casually patted his arm with her other hand. As she walked off to greet others, Jimmy broke out in a huge smile and confided to my husband that he couldn’t remember when last a lady had touched him.
As I pondered Jimmy’s words, I thought about the importance of touch; it is an essential human need. When we touch or are touched, our bodies release chemicals like oxytocin (the devotion, trust and bonding hormone) and serotonin (the happy hormone) while inhibiting other chemicals like cortisol (a stress hormone). Without a doubt, Jesus had a powerful touch and people brought their children to Him just so He could touch them. When Jesus touched Peter’s mother-in-law, she immediately recovered from her fever and, after touching Jairus’ daughter, the dead girl got up and walked. With a touch, Jesus gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, and made leprosy disappear. As for the woman with the blood disorder: even after the blood stopped, without waiting another seven days and undergoing a ritual bath, she was still considered unclean. I don’t think that bothered Jesus! Although the gospels don’t record it, there is no doubt in my mind that, as the trembling woman knelt at His feet, Jesus touched her when He told her to go in peace.
How many people go days, weeks, or longer without a gentle touch? Consider the many people who live alone or those, like Jimmy and the bleeding woman who feel tainted because of their past? When we touch one another, we communicate care and concern and experience oneness. Like Jesus’ touch, Merna’s touch told Jimmy that he wasn’t unclean—that he mattered both to God and to his family in Christ. The touch of Jesus has the power to heal and so does ours! Let’s reach out and touch someone today!
Each time we reach out and touch someone, we communicate the tangible truth of the gospel—that God in Christ reaches out to each of us, drawing us into intimate relationship with Him and those around us. [Rob Moll]
In a recent Doonesbury comic (written by Garry Trudeau), a pastor is explaining to the congregation what constitutes sin in the eyes of their church. The elders now will condone conduct such as, “lewdness, vulgarity, profanity, adultery, and sexual assault,” and exemptions from Christian values include, “greed, bullying, conspiring, boasting, lying, cheating, sloth, envy, wrath, gluttony and pride.” In addition, the church will overlook such things as, ”Biblical illiteracy, church non-attendance, and no credible sign of faith.” After the service, one church member says, “Lovin’ the lower bar, Pastor!” while another adds, “I feel like a freakin’ saint now!” Trudeau’s comic may be satire but it is closer to the truth than I care to admit.
Upon retirement, many people consider their productive years over. Having been a CEO in a major corporation, a friend’s father felt worthless without his corporate identity. Prior to retirement, he could call any number of powerful people and get a meeting simply because of his position but, without his title, he felt like a nonentity. His previous business triumphs couldn’t sustain him and he saw no victories in the future. Unfortunately, many seniors who found their identity in their career, corporate title or paycheck are at loose ends when retirement comes along. Some of my friends who were homemakers aren’t much different from those in the business world. It’s just that they found their identity in motherhood and their self-esteem in their children’s achievements. Now, with an empty nest and adult children living their own lives far away, they feel unnecessary. Like my friend’s father, they are looking back at who and what they’ve been rather than forward to who and what they can be.
Two members of our small group attended Easter service at a Christian church in another town. Imagine their shock when the pastor began his sermon by saying he didn’t believe in the resurrection. Thinking his statement had been made for shock value, they patiently waited for him to make a case for Christ and defend the truth of Easter. Unfortunately, he only offered a feel good message about new beginnings. I was reminded of their story when another pastor mentioned his experience when a youth pastor. After one of the teens complained that he talked too much about Jesus, he was called into the senior pastor’s office and told that Jesus just should be a “side dish” in the church youth group!
Several years ago, there was a popular television program in which “Supernanny” Jo Frost would visit a home to help parents deal with the behavior problems of their children. She emphasized the need for both discipline and forgiveness. If children misbehaved or broke a rule after receiving a warning, they served a time-out on the “naughty step.” The parent clearly explained the reason for the discipline and the length of time they’d be sitting there. Once the sentence on the step had been served, the parent offered a second explanation for the discipline. An apology was requested which, once offered, was followed up by a kiss and cuddle and the incident was over and done.
In C.S. Lewis’ fantasy The Horse and His Boy, Aravis, a young noblewoman, is attacked by a lion. After her wounds are cleaned and dressed, she’s told that the cuts on her back are neither deep nor dangerous and no more serious than the cuts of a whip. Aravis later learns from Aslan, the lion who attacked her, that the gashes on her back, stripe for stripe, equal the stripes laid on the back of the maidservant she’d caused to be punished. At first, this seems more like the Old Testament retribution of “an eye for an eye” than something Lewis’ Christ-like character of Aslan would do. What if the maidservant had been hung or beheaded? What then?
Devotions of the Heart 