The Touch of Jesus

Text: Mark 5:21-43

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

          Have you ever been in a really crowded space and been unable to avoid bumping and touching all sorts of people all around you? Maybe it was a crowded concert. It used to be the lines waiting outside the stores on Black Friday clambering to get in for the best deals. Having lived just outside New York City for six years, taking the subway was always a trial for someone who likes to have their own personal space. And I never did it, but watching all those people cram into Times Square on New Year’s Eve seems more like a nightmare than the exciting time they all seem to be having.

Most of us like to have a little bit of our own space. Free from the unwanted constriction of a crowd or the touch of a stranger. This was highlighted a few years ago when fears of sickness caused us all to learn about social distancing. For some people six feet was all the closer they ever wanted to get to anyone else anyway.

But God designed us as human beings to generally desire closeness with other people. Whether that be physical or emotional, we’re generally wired to want some form of intimacy, and often that includes touch. I was at the wake for a woman who died recently and waiting in line to offer my condolences to the widower and noticed that he was hugging every person who came through the line. At first, I was a little worried, wondering whether I was the only one there who didn’t know him in this close and intimate way. In fact, I’d never met him face to face before. Would I be the only one he didn’t offer a hug to? As my turn came and I approached him I reached out my hand to offer a handshake. He took it and said, “I give hugs. Is that ok?” I said “That’s great” and he pulled me in for a hug. Only then did I introduce myself and explain the connection that brought me there that day. What a way to make someone feel welcome and connected. Sometimes that physical touch conveys as much as a word or anything else.

Jesus certainly operated in a way that made people feel welcome and connected. And often He used the power of His touch to convey that to people. It’s true that

JESUS USES HIS TOUCH TO HEAL AND

TO CONNECT WITH ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE, EVEN US TODAY.

          Mark gives us an incredible account of two healings that happen as a result of Jesus’ touch. We begin as Jesus was engulfed by another “great crowd gathered about Him (as) He was by the sea.” In the middle of this crowd, Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, finds Jesus and “implored Him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death.’” What Jairus says next is phrased very specifically and tells us a great deal about what people already knew and believed about Jesus. Jairus continues, “Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” Jairus must have heard, and probably even had seen, Jesus heal people in this way and has faith that Jesus would do the same for His daughter. Jesus immediately recognizes the faith of the man who pleads for the life of His daughter and moves directly toward action without even saying a word. “And He went with him.”

          We’ll get back to Jairus and his ailing daughter in a bit, but before Jesus is able to get to this miraculous healing, He has to make His way through the great crowd that was gathered around Him. If you’ve ever seen a rock star leaning over the front of the stage, or an athlete leaving the stadium toward the locker room through the tunnel, or a politician working the rope line at a big event, what do they all have in common? People reaching out their hands toward the celebrity in hopes of getting a high five, or a handshake, or just a brush with what they perceive as greatness. The same thing is happening here to Jesus, but the touches of the people in this crowd were about much more than a desire to make contact with somebody famous. They’d seen the healing power of Jesus’ touch and many of them had concluded that Jesus was some type of magic object that could convey a bit of the divine to them whether He was aware of their touch or not.

As crazy as that sounds, it’s surprising that this actually works. At least for this one woman who for years had been dealing with this bleeding issue. “She said, ‘If I touch even His garment, I will be made well.’” But what about all the other people reaching for Jesus and brushing up against Him. Mark makes no mention of anyone else except this one woman being healed. And when that woman came back to Jesus to confess that she was the one who caused that “power (to go) out from Him” Jesus reveals why she was healed when so many others were not. He says to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” Perhaps all the others were just looking to use Jesus as a magical cure without actually having faith in Him. It’s clear that the woman’s faith in the power of Jesus to heal is the distinction between her and so many others.

It’s possible that each of us at times has been like the throng of followers, seeking a healing or forgiving miracle from Jesus without really thinking about Jesus at all, but rather only of what could be done for us. How often do we rush through the words of confession where we pray “of Your boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ”? That’s the exact place where we acknowledge our faith in the power of Jesus to heal. That’s where we become the woman who receives the power that comes out of Jesus as opposed to the crowd who receive nothing because they don’t know what Jesus is actually capable of. Jesus says it over and over again. “Your faith has made you well.”

          And over and over again Jesus uses the power of His touch to heal. Which is where we come back to Jairus and his daughter. He asks Jesus very specifically, “Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” It’s a request, conveyed as command, for this man has faith that Jesus will do for him and his daughter what he asks. And so, Jesus does. When He reaches the house and enters, he finds the girl who He has been told is dead. Actually, He finds a group of people weeping and wailing loudly because they believe that the girl is dead. Imagine having the guts to walk into a home of people mourning for a dead 12-year-old gild and casually asking, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” But this is the presence that Jesus commands and they obey as He instructs them to wait outside.

And Jesus uses His healing touch again. “Taking her by the hand he said to her, ‘Talitha cumi,’ which means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.’ And immediately the girl got up and began walking.”

          All of that is well and good, you might say, but I need healing now and Jesus isn’t here to take me by the hand. Jesus isn’t here that I, in faith, might touch His garment and be healed. But He is. He was here last week as Erwin came to the font and the hand of Jesus washed away his sin through those flowing waters of baptism. Just as His hand was in the water of your baptism. He was here just a few moments ago when you each received the forgiveness of sins spoken over you by me “in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ.” If you want to feel that healing touch more tangibly, come to private confession and absolution where my hands will be placed on your head while you receive the words of forgiveness. And when I say “my hands” what’s really happening is Jesus is reaching out through the hands of His servant to provide the healing touch of forgiveness to the repentant sinner. One Saturday a month or whenever you feel you might need that healing touch, it’s available to you.

And every week, the touch of Jesus comes in the form of His body and blood, placed on your lips for the forgiveness of sins, healing and restoration, and the nourishment of your body and soul. All who come in faith, believing that Christ has the power to heal, forgive, and restore His people come away with just that. He desires to be close to you. He wants that intimate relationship with you. And He wants you to desire the same. Even as He created you to desire closeness with other people, He created you to be in that deep and intimate relationship with Him. He’s the One drawing you in. Have faith that His touch will heal you. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.