The Healing Touch of Jesus Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Henri Nouwen wrote about the second part of our reading this morning (v. 18-26). He said (and I'm paraphrasing) that ministry is what happens in the interruptions. In this passage we see several examples of the types of things that can happen through interruptions.
a. Matthew is at work collecting taxes and is interrupted by Jesus. Quite a life changing interruption, wasn’t it?
b. Jesus’ always important teaching, interrupted by a desperate father, Jairus.
c. And then, Jesus on his way to Jairus' home, interrupted by a chronically ill woman.
You and I would probably go home very frustrated by such a day of interruptions! "I couldn't get a THING done today!", we might say.
Well I believe that, as is illustrated by the gospels, it is often in the interruptions that God provides us with opportunities to give and receive his love and mercy.
As we come to the second part of Matthew's story this morning, Jesus, the great physician, is on his way to make an emergency house call. There was a little girl who was has just died. Yet, her father, a leader in the synagogue, implores Jesus to come and to lay his healing hand on her. We are told that a large crowd of the curious followed Jesus. Some, I imagine, were hoping he would succeed – others perhaps, that he would fail; most probably just got caught up in the excitement of the parade.
In this throng was one woman who was there for quite a different reason. We are told that for twelve years she had been suffering from a bleeding hemorrhage. Mark tell us that she had already been to all of the doctors and she had only gotten worse. Beside that they had taken all her money. Interestingly, Luke, who was a physician, also tells this story, but he didn’t mention the overwhelming medical bills.
In any case, this woman’s dilemma is how could she get the attention of Jesus?
Her problem was, of course, a problem of a very, personal nature. She did not want to discuss it publicly. According to Levitic Law, a woman who was bleeding was considered unclean and no one could touch her.
You know, she already had three strikes against her, and she did not want to risk going through the disciples to see Jesus. Just like this week when I checked out of the hotel in Florence. I questioned the bill and I wanted to talk to the manager, not the desk clerk. Our woman this morning wanted the doctor – she didn’t want to talk to the nurse.
So she figured out a plan. Having heard the stories of Jesus' power, she declared: “If I but touch the hem of his garment I will be healed." Isn’t that a simple, childlike faith? If we could all believe with the unquestioned, unqualified faith of a child.
Anyway, as she reached out from the crowd and touched the garment of Jesus, he stopped, turned and declared: “Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well."
I’m just so impressed at his willing gentleness. Willing to be interrupted and pause in the middle of his purposeful journey, willing to risk the scorn of others (as he would be made unclean by her touch) and his gentle response to her reaching out. Jesus did not draw back. He was not repelled, but he turned to gently address her in the midst of her trouble.
This is a significant moment to me. Jesus comes to us in the midst of our troubles. Yet I believe that the really important point, the action that speaks most strongly to each and every one of us, is that in the midst of the crowd, Christ felt the touch of a single person. Don't ever say that in the enormity of the cosmos God cannot care about your concerns or mine. Not only does God care, he actually solicits our concerns "Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you peace."
And so Jesus turns to her, and with his gentle willingness, says: “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” And, we are told, she was immediately healed.
The desperation of her crisis, the intensity of her loss, thus became the channel that faithfully led to her healing. And isn’t that the case with our lives as well. Aren’t we most prone to turn to God in moments of desperation, rather than moments of satisfaction and joy?
Our story this morning is saying there are two kinds of touch, the first physical touch and the second is spiritual touch. Let’s start off talking about physical touch.
So often when Jesus wanted to transmit His loving power, he physically touched people – the man born blind and the children in Jerusalem being two examples.
An embrace, a kiss, an arm on the shoulder, a pat on the back – all of these are ways of expressing a love which goes beyond words.
It is a sad comment that we are so paranoid on this subject in America. I am reminded of working the detox unit at the Lancaster Hospital in the early 90’s. We began to admit an occasional patient suffering with HIV or Aids. If you remember, there was a lot of fear around 1990 and 1991 about aids and how it was spread. Many of the nurses on that 5th floor unit were reluctant to have physical contact with these patients. Yet God gave me the vision to view the sadness and the emptiness of these struggling alcoholics and addicts, suffering children of God who were looking for that light at the end of the tunnel. I saw myself as God's instrument of light and I would reach out and hug that suffering man or woman. I would reach out and carry the light of Christ, in the touch of His angels – to those in need.
We have grown touchy about touching in this country for many reasons. In other parts of the world they do not seem to have this hang-up. To me, the guideline that we can use for this is from the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes.
You recall the familiar verses that reads: “There is a time to live and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which has been planted, a time for peace and a time for war, a time to touch and a time to refrain from touching.”
A wise person will appreciate the difference.
I lament the politically correct world that we have created where no one is supposed to touch in a professional setting. Hugging was always so important when I worked as an A&D counselor. Appropriate hugging is always so important. Yet today, such touching is discouraged in so many situations. I know pastors who never hug.
I can tell you no minister, no teacher, no boss, will ever get close to a person whom he is unwilling to physically touch. Now that doesn’t mean that you have to run around hugging everyone you meet, but touch communicates far more than words are able. Can you ever draw close to a person whom you are unwilling to physically touch?
· If you are unwilling to touch your wife, your child, your friend, your mother or your father, then that speaks volumes about the love you share.
· In ministry if you are not willing to touch a sick person, homeless person, an alcoholic, or a terribly dirty person, then you are unwilling to minister to them.
A young girl is eating dinner at a friend's house. Her friend's mother asks if she likes brussel sprouts. "Yes, of course," the girl replied. "I like brussel sprouts."
After the dinner, though, the mother notices that the brussel sprouts remain untouched. "I thought you liked brussel sprouts," the mother asked.
"I do," answered the girl. "But not enough to actually eat them."
We Christians like a lot of things - peace, love, harmony.
But oft times, we don’t love them enough to actually do something about them.
The Menninger Institute in Topeka, Kansas once had a fascinating experiment. They identified a group of crib babies who did not cry. Let me explain. It seems that babies cry because they instinctively know that that is the way to get attention. Crying is their way of calling out. These babies, however, had been in abusive situations. Their parents let them cry for hours on end and never responded. Do you know what happened? The babies eventually quit crying. It was almost as though they knew that it was not worth trying.
So the Menninger Institute came in for an experiment. They got some people from retirement and even nursing homes, and every day these people held these babies and rocked them. The object was to get these children to start crying again. And you know what? It worked. Physical touch made the difference.
As important as physical touch is, there is yet another kind of touch and it is even more important. It is spiritual touch. This is the special touch that influences and impacts the lives of people. The telephone company some years ago had a slogan that you may recall: "Reach out and touch someone."
They were trying to sell their services, but they were also talking about establishing and maintaining meaningful relationships. It is through relationships that we find our strength.
Though I have never seen the Sequoia trees of California, known as Redwoods, I am told they are spectacular. Towering as much as 300 feet above the ground. Strangely, these towering trees have unusually shallow root systems that spider out just under the surface of the ground. This enables them to catch as much of the surface moisture as possible. But this same strength is indeed their vulnerability. Storms with heavy winds would almost always bring these giants crashing to the ground but this rarely happens. They rarely fall in this way because they grow in clusters and their intertwining roots provide support for one another against the storms.
When we are together, either as a family or a church, we provide this same support for one another. Pain and suffering come to all of us. But, just like those giant Sequoia trees, we can be supported in the most difficult times by the touch of one another. In good times, but especially in bad, we are strengthened by the knowledge that we have someone; that we are not alone; that there is someone who is willing to touch us, hold us, keeps us from being destroyed. We need to know that the roots of other people's lives are intertwined with ours.
If we are out of touch with people, then perhaps we are also out of touch with God.
I believe that personal devotion, as well as Bible study and worship services in the church are very important.
But they are not as important as nurture and outreach are. No matter how great the programs of the church, no matter how dynamic the preaching – these things are not designed to be an end in themselves. They are designed to equip us and energize us to go out and touch the lives of people. I believe that as the family of God, we are called upon to reach out and touch the lives of the least, the last, the lost, and the lonely.
Why do I feel that way?
Because He touched me, oh He touched me. And, oh the joy that floods my soul. Something happened within me, He touched me and He made me whole!
