The healing power of touch!

Mark 6:53-56

Having made the crossing, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up. No sooner had they stepped out of the boat than people recognised him, and started hurrying all through the countryside and brought the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, to village, or town, or farm, they laid down the sick in the open spaces, begging him to let them touch even the fringe of his cloak. And all those who touched him were cured.

Food for thought!

All who touched him were cured!

This is more than a summary statement; it is a statement of fact: all who touch Jesus are cured. Do you notice that this time it is not Jesus touching the people, but the people touching Jesus? In other words, when Jesus touches us he heals; but also when we touch him we get healed. What is the difference?

Normally we see Jesus touching the sick in order to heal them. This is what we usually see. But the contrary is also true: we can and should touch Jesus. And this is what the people did:  "wherever he went, to village, or town, or farm, they (the people) laid down the sick in the open spaces, begging him to let them touch even the fringe of his cloak." It is interesting to note that the people were not begging Jesus to touch their sick, but to let the sick touch him!

And all those who touched him were cured. This statement means that those, and only those, who went to Jesus and literary touched him, were cured. What was in this touch? Well, all of us do need either to be touched or to touch someone we love. Touch is a language that speaks more eloquently than words; when we touch we say much more than we would with words. Those sick people said much more to Jesus by their touch than they would with their mouths.

Did you ever realize that the first thing a new baby gets from its mother is a hug, an embrace, a touch? The Book of Genesis says that God formed us by touch: "Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being." (Gen. 2:7).

Whom do you touch regularly? Who touches you regularly? When do you want or like to be touched? Do you ever get and give a healing touch? Because positive touch has a healing power, all those who touched Jesus were healed.