Close Enough to Touch: What DID Jesus DO?
There’s a really annoying girl in my Theater Class.”
It was the first day of Kate’s last semester of high school and fourth semester of college, and, as is standard on her first day of class, she texts a running commentary on her first impressions.
“There are really annoying people in the real world, too, so I suppose you should probably get used to it (insert multiple laughing face emojis),” I responded.
Throughout the next hour of her Theater class, Kate kept sending me updates on the loud interruptions this girl made, how she was somehow on the Honors’ track, her galloping across the classroom, her insistence on cutting the professor off in mid-sentence, and her genuine lack of any social awareness.
Finally, by the end of the hour-long class, Kate sent one last observation: “I think she might be on the spectrum. And, we have several group scenes and projects in this class. No one else is going to want to work with her, so I’m sure she’s going to be in my group.”
When Kate got home, we chatted about her day, and I asked her more about the Theater class and this girl. She explained in more depth her observations, and I asked her why she thought this girl would end up in her group, expecting her to say something about how that always happens to her, karma, or how she would just end up being that unlucky.
She didn’t say that though.
Instead, she talked to me about how she felt bad for this girl and would offer her a place to belong when they had to form these groups.
I have to admit that my gut reaction was not the same as Kate’s.
I’m not sure I could have been so loving, accepting, and generous–especially where groups in school are concerned.
It always hits differently when we’re humbled by our kids, and this was no exception for me because my attitude and perspective aren’t always ones of offering everyone a seat at my table, even though I know it should be. It isn’t always about reaching out and touching the least of these, even though I know I should do that too.
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Touching the Lepers
As I’ve been working through the book of Luke and studying what Jesus did, I’ve been constantly amazed at the willingness Jesus showed when healing and loving on the sick, the demon-possessed, and the least of these.
We see that in chapter 5:
One day, while Jesus was in a certain city, he came upon a man covered with leprous sores. When the man recognized Jesus, he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet and begged to be healed, saying, “If you were willing, you could completely heal me.”
Jesus reached out and touched him and said, “Of course I am willing to heal you, and now you will be healed.” Instantly, the leprous sores were healed, and his skin became smooth.
Jesus said, “Tell no one what has happened, but go to the temple priests and show them you’ve been healed. And to show that you are purified, make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded. You will become a living testimony to them!”
Luke 5:12-14 TPT
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have any personal experience with those suffering from Leprosy. I could try to make a comparison between Leprosy and the COVID-19 pandemic, but I think that would lessen the severity of a Leprosy diagnosis. However, we’ve all lived through the COVID-19 pandemic, and we can all understand the anxiety and fear of getting within six feet of anyone with COVID during that time, and maybe even still today for some of us.
While that trauma is still fresh in your mind, think about that time and then multiply that by open sores/various skin diseases, public ostracism, and the label of unclean–so unclean in fact that any Jew who touched you would be contaminated and have to undergo purifying rites due to the purity law of your day.
Touching a leper was a big “No, No.”
BIG.
There’s some great and incredibly insightful research out there on what leprosy looked like during Biblical times, and if you are curious as to what it was vs. what we are typically taught it is, a quick Google search of Biblical leprosy will give you a clearer picture. Regardless, the fact remains that this man had been deemed “unclean” and removed from his society because of it.
In fact, if you research different translations of this event, the AMP, MSG, and NIV all refer to the man asking Jesus to make him clean as opposed to healing him. Semantics aside, this man needed Jesus to change his situation and elevate him from his status as the “least of these.”
When this man made this request, Jesus reached out and touched him.
He physically reached out and touched a man whom the law had deemed unclean.
This was a big deal–worse than us drinking after someone with COVID-19 during the Pandemic.
Instantly, the leprosy disappeared, and Jesus told the man to go to the priests, show them he was clean, and offer a sacrifice–all aspects of the purification process this man and Christ’s audience would recognize and understand.
Even though Jesus didn’t undergo any of the purification rites, he sent this healed man to complete them to show both his healing and to allow him to be accepted back into society.
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Modern-Day Lepers
I’ve talked before about Carlos Rodriguez’s book “Drop the Stones.” I used it in a small group last fall, and it has made a lasting impact on my life and my perspectives. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I would strongly encourage you to. Whether you’ve been in the church your whole life, been burned by the church, or are brand new to the faith, Carlos will speak to your heart and your mind in such a powerful way that I’m confident it will change you for the better. You can grab it over at Amazon or from The Happy Givers (and, nope, I’m not getting anything for this. I just love it that much.)
When I was reading this book, one of the major things that stuck out to me was when Carlos talked about how Jesus touched the lepers and challenged us with the question of who the lepers are in our world today.
Who are our lepers?
Who are your lepers?
The homeless?
The annoying kid in your class?
The incarcerated?
The impoverished?
The atheists?
The folks on the other side of your political aisle?
Your neighbor across the street?
That family that left your church?
It’s taken me some time to truly process this and consider who the lepers are in my world and who it is that we’ve ostracized, deemed unfit/unclean, and refuse to reach out and touch for fear of what might happen to us. And, your list of lepers might look different than mine.
When I think about this scene of Jesus ignoring religious law to reach out and touch this man and heal him, it’s incredibly humbling. While we might not have religious laws that forbid us from interacting with and touching certain people, we definitely have unspoken social and cultural laws that do the exact same thing.
And, I have to ask myself if I’m willing to ignore those unspoken rules to reach out, touch, and offer healing to those people.
Sadly, my answer isn’t always yes,
But, it needs to be.
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Close Enough to Touch
I grew up in a church that preached we need to be in the world but not of the world, and they translated that to mean that we should look at every person we came in contact with as potential converts because God called us to be disciples to everyone. After all, The Great Commission.
Before you come at me with your Bible verses, hear me out:
Jesus was the creator and deliverer of said Great Commission, but he was also the man who healed this leper and helped him become accepted back into his society.
Jesus was the man who looked at this man his religion had deemed unclean and said, “Of course I am willing to heal you…”
Jesus was the man who got close enough to this societal outcast to physically touch him.
Jesus was the man who knelt before his disciples and washed their feet in humility and as an act of service even though he knew one of them would betray him, another would deny him, and several would go on to doubt him.
We can’t go out and make disciples without loving people, without getting close enough to reach out and touch them, without washing their feet in humble service, and without being willing to offer them hope, healing, and cleansing.
That’s what Jesus DID.
No part of me thinks this is easy, friend.
In fact, I think this is incredibly challenging.
It’s a challenge worth taking, though.
As you head into this week, I pray that you remember how Jesus reached out to touch and heal this leper and you pay attention to who the lepers are Jesus is calling you to reach out to in your world. I guarantee it isn’t going to be easy work, but it will most definitely be worthy work.
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Reflections:
Who are the lepers God is placing on your heart?
What is he nudging you toward in terms of reaching out to touch them and offer them hope and healing?
What is your biggest obstacle in following these nudges?
