Touch.

[A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed]
[18] While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” [19] And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. [20] And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, [21] for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” [22] Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. [23] And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, [24] he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. [25] But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. [26] And the report of this went through all that district.
[Jesus Heals Two Blind Men]
[27] And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” [28] When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” [29] Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” [30] And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” [31] But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.
(Matthew 9:18-31 ESV)

So this was from my study this morning. Perhaps my thoughts piggy back off of Pal’s sermon yesterday, but what exactly stands out to you in these texts I’ve copied? Ok, well it’s easy to see since I’ve bolded what I found important to my point. Haha.

So for some reason as I read this this morning, all I could see was how people were healed when Jesus TOUCHED them. I suppose this is where lots of people get the fuel for their songs about God ‘touching them’ like the Gaithers ‘He Touched Me.’ And I suppose this is also a support passage for the healing that many believes comes through faith and the laying on of hands. I’m not going to talk about any of that. BECAUSE when I read it this morning, something pressed in me to understand it at a DEEPER level, more than surface value. Why did Jesus touch them? He didn’t HAVE to touch them. Obviously, He can do things without having to touch people. There is proof of that in biblical text, but what is Matthew trying to convey here?? Why does he have all this junk about Jesus touching all right here in this one spot.

Well, the text right before these passages talks about how Jesus has come to do something ‘new.’ He is new wine and must be in new wineskin. He is unshrunk cloth and must be on a new garment. Most people interpret this as having to do with the current understanding the Pharisees and disciples had of the Jewish law. If we take it from that perspective, it does make sense that the touching stuff would immediately follow.

The people that Jesus touches in vs. 18-31 are people that would be considered unclean, or people that the religious law would advise one not to touch, but we see that Jesus willingly TOUCHED them. This is similar to how he dined with the tax collectors in this same chapter (a few verses earlier) and said that the well did not need a physician but the sick. He is doing some radical stuff here for the watchers and listeners of his day. In addition, the people who come to Jesus are so humbled yet so BOLD. The lady with the blood knows that she is ‘unclean’ yet she asks Jesus to TOUCH her b/c she believes (has faith) in his healing power. That’s bold. And the ruler with the DEAD DAUGHTER asks Jesus to come and TOUCH her….Jews didn’t touch dead bodies! That was unclean. Jesus responds to these people immediately too you see. But at the end of this little section, there are two that Jesus doesn’t respond to immediately…the two blind men. It’s interesting that they don’t ask Jesus to touch them. They just say ‘heal us heal us.’ Their faith is the only that Jesus’ questions as well. Jesus doesn’t question the faith of the ruler or the faith of the woman with the discharge of blood, but he does question the faith of the men. They affirm they believe he can heal them, so he does, but I wonder about the faith and commitment of these men because immediately after he TOUCHES them and heals them he asks them not to tell anyone and they DELIBERATELY disobey. That must have frustrated Jesus. I know how annoyed I get when I have good reason for asking the kids or people to do something and they don’t do it b/c they don’t want to or thing their way is better. Ugh, I get so mad. I have my reasons. Jesus had his reasons. He knew it wasn’t time for his fame to spread like that yet…His death was coming but at a certain time. He had a plan, so they shouldn’t share yet, but they did. Ugh. But notice, Jesus TOUCHES these men.

So what about this TOUCH thing? Well, on the behalf of Jesus, I think He demonstrates that we as Christians have to be willing to pray for wisdom about how exactly we may need to step outside the rules of religious practice. This could come in many forms. And I’m not saying to do this for the sake of just being liberal or a rogue, but do it with discernment and wisdom. Maybe this means, like Pal mentioned yesterday, going out to the lost or sick or hurting rather than just inviting them to come to church. Maybe a Christian would find him/herself in a bar and that WOULDN’T be the end of the world. I’m not suggesting you go get wasted. Duh. Jesus wasn’t like ‘OH YEAH! A DEAD BODY, I’M GONNA ROLL AROUND IN DEAD BODIES.’ Psh. That’s stupid. He had a purpose for touching that body, and He touched it even though others looked at him like he was stupid (notice the crowd that he had to send out first….there are those who won’t understand or who will think you are stupid, that I am stupid. There are those who will say even that there is no hope for some and that reaching out to them is ridiculous or ministering in a certain way is pointless. Perhaps these are those we should just simply ‘put outside.’)

And what does this mean for those who come to Jesus for help and pray for help?? Well, I think we can learn from those in this passage that there is one way to come to God…humble, broken, submissive to HIM as God of the universe and knowing more than you do. We should come to God as Job does at the end of the book of Job, not as he does in the middle of the book. These people risked being yelled at and ostrasized even for asking such a regarded man to touch them. These people were bold and demonstrated an understanding that Jesus was not a regular pharisaic teacher but someone doing something different. We shouldn’t just come with our words over and over. If we do, God may ask us about our faith, if it’s real. Then may come the revelation that He may call us to certain places or jobs or circumstances that are very uncomfortable so as to demonstrate that we are serving and loving HIM and not just what He can do for us. These 2 blind men had to eventually let Jesus touch them. I want to study and go deeper with this. I just feel like that being touched by Jesus in this way would have been humbling and displayed humility on the part of those being touched. I’ll get back to you.

In addition, obey Jesus afterward please.

So lastly, as I thought of all this, I, of course, thought of the outreach at GFC in the community. The passage follows this that talks about the harvest being plentiful and the workers few. Now we have a lot of workers this summer and only about 30 different kids coming through our door, but I’m thinking about the amazing opportunity we have to really invest and ‘touch’ the lives of these kids. So many of these kids on Saturdays are repeats, and the ones coming during the week are getting to know so many people in the church. And I feel like we are in the midst of some ground breaking things with these community kids starting to hang out with church people outside of just regular program hours. We’re actually just friends with them and doing things with them. What a chance we have to love people here! This is a harvest that really is plentiful if you think of the opportunity that exists for the love of Christ to be shown here…the harvest really IS plentiful with only 30 kids. Wow! Actually, it’s MORE plentiful because we have more time to plant deeper and dig deeper. So amazing.

SO I’m praying that God will show me where I may need to step outside my comfort zone in my prayers to him and my service for him. Where can we be touching and letting Jesus touch through us, and where can we bow our heads and allow Jesus to touch us?

Ok, so those are my thoughts for now. Respond if you like. It was long though, so I don’t even know that anyone will make it to the end. haha