Central Truth

Some people came to Jesus for healing, and sometimes He went to them. Regardless of who He was encountering, and how it happened, He was constantly filled with the compassion to love and heal people.

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Reflections

Throughout my life I've been captivated by Matthew 8:3. Here's why; Jesus touched the leprous man before he healed him.

Jesus didn't have to touch him. The man certainly wasn't expecting it because it wasn't even acceptable to touch a leprous person at that time. (For more information on the subject see Leviticus 13:45-46). Jesus could have healed him from miles away, as we see Him doing later in this same chapter. But Jesus chose to touch the man. And in touching him, Jesus didn't just heal the man, He also showed him that He accepted him. It was probably the first physical touch the man had felt in years, and I imagine, to him, that touch was the most important touch of his life.

But what does this mean for today? Well our church, as one example, is in a neighborhood full of "untouchables": drug addicts, the mentally ill, the under-educated, the emotionally unstable, the former inmates, and the just plain weird people. It's a lonely neighborhood, a cold neighborhood, the kind of neighborhood where people ignore each other whenever possible.

There are churches here who have spent years preaching to people in our neighborhood, and have seen no fruit from it. Other ministries have passed out free goods, and only run up large bills from it, without any return in changed lives.

But over the last 2 years, our little church has been compelled by the model of Jesus to touch people; to physically touch them, and show them that we accept them. We shake hands all around the neighborhood. We hug anyone we can. We wrestle the teenagers. We pick up the smaller kids and play with them. We open the doors to whomever might want to come in. And we do it because we see that when Jesus encountered someone who was rejected from His own society, the touch came before the healing. We have found the same to be true today.

People are being healed now. People are being set free now. And it's happening because our little church has not been afraid to touch the untouchable.

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Discussion Questions

1. Did someone's "touch" ever effect you when you were going through a rough time? If so, why?

2. Who might be called the "untouchables" in your neighborhood (either groups of people or individuals)?

3. How might they react if you gave them a warm handshake, or a pat on the back to show them that you care?

4. Are you brave enough to do it?

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