The Life-Giving Power of Jesus' Touch
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In Luke 5 there is a story that I have a hard time getting away from. I wrote about it in my article on broken prayers, but there is something else I want you to see. Let me remind you of the verses.
The other thing this touch did for this man is it told him “you have value.” So often when you get “defined” by the outside world, you begin to believe it. I have always said that if you tell somebody something long enough, they will eventually believe it. This can be positive or negative. I suspect that this man had rang that bell and shouted unclean so many times that all he could think of himself was unclean. When Jesus touched him, he was saying you are more than that – you have value to me.
You should also note that Jesus reached out to the man first. I know the scriptures don’t say this, but allow me for a moment to have some creative license. This man was on the ground begging for Jesus to heal him. I can almost picture Jesus kneeling down with this man opening his arms and wrapping his arms around him. I could almost see him holding him and saying in his ear be clean. To those around him, they would probably say “why are you doing that? He is a leper.” Jesus didn’t see that, all he saw was the value the man had.
This is what makes Jesus so incredible and so awesome. He meets you right where you are. He could have healed the man first and then touched him, but he didn’t. He met him in his unclean place. Touched him when he was still unclean and then he healed him. He will do the same for you. He will meet you in your unclean place, touch you, embrace you, then heal you because he meets you right where you are.
Photo credit: Pexels/Katii Bishop
The last thing the touch of Jesus told the man is that you are worth it. You are worth my time. You are worth my touch. You are worth it all. The one thing you will consistently see throughout Jesus’ ministry is he was constantly reaching out to those who were unclean. The same holds true today. He never stops reaching and never stops touching.
The last act of reaching for Jesus was when he stretched out his arms and allowed them to be nailed to a wooden cross. Why did he do it? He did it for the same reason he reached and touched that man who was a leper. Because you are worth it.
There is this old song we used to sing called He Touched Me. Here is the chorus:
He touched, O He touched me
And O the joy that floods my soul
Something happened and now I know
He touched me and made me whole
This song was the story of the leper. This song is also the story of everyone who has ever trusted Jesus to be their savior. He touched you and made you whole. Thank God that the same way he reached and touched then is the same way he still reaches and touches now.
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Photo credit: Unsplash/Jon Tyson
