Healing Touch

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.                                            Matthew 8:3

Immediately after Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, he came down from the mountainside and he was approached by a leper. Leprosy, of course, was a dreaded wasting disease prevalent in the middle east climate. Lepers were avoided, cast out, and left to die in miserable camps outside of cities and villages.

A man with leprosy approached Jesus and knelt before him asking for healing. The fact that the leper approached Jesus at all says first, that he trusted that Jesus could heal him, and secondly, that Jesus would not cast him away like the rest of society. Then Jesus did the provocative and dangerous action – he touched the leper. The leper was healed immediately.

When Jesus moved on to Capernaum, he encountered a centurion who sought Jesus on behalf of his paralyzed servant. The centurion, showing faith far beyond the religious leaders of the time, asked Jesus to heal his servant with “just say the word and my servant will be healed”.

The centurion’s servant was, of course, also healed. The contrast to me is striking. Jesus could have healed that leper the same way- just said the word. But Jesus chose to touch the leper, healing him not only physically, but spiritually and emotionally as well.

What must it have been like for the leper to be touched by another human being? He had been shunned and isolated by a fearful society who had banished him outside of the city walls. Jesus knew that this man needed a touch for healing in so many ways.  

In Jewish law, one who touched a leper became unclean. In the Kingdom Jesus came to usher in, those whom Jesus touches become clean.

Prayer: Lord, help us to reach out to those who need a healing touch, Amen