Category: Advent 2013 – Touch

One time I was on a road trip with friends from college. We stopped for gas and, eager to stretch our legs after being cooped up in the car, several of us raced to the far corner of the parking lot. I was just reaching full stride, when my friend Gary grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back. A vehicle was gunning its motor and about to hit me. Gary’s strong arms saved my life.

In Matthew 14:22-33, Jesus’ disciples experienced a second storm on the Sea of Galilee but this time Jesus was not asleep in the back of the boat; they had left him back on shore. When the storm arose, the disciples could not ask him for help. Suddenly they saw a figure walking on the water and approaching the boat. Which was more terrifying, the winds threatening to sink the craft or this specter walking on the surface of the waves? Peter called out and said, “If it is really you, Lord, command me to walk on the water too.”

Jesus replied, “Come!”

With no way to avoid losing face, Peter climbed out of the boat. Looking at Jesus, Peter began moving over the surface of the sea. But out the corner of his eye he saw the towering waves. He began to sink and shouted for help. Immediately, Jesus’ hand grabbed the fisherman and hauled him to safety. I love that word “immediately.” It occurs three times in this brief passage. We don’t often think of Jesus rushing about, but there was no delay as he reached out to help his friend. Jesus’ strong arm saved his friend’s life.

John reports the same storm in the sixth chapter of his gospel. Just a few verses later, in John 6:37-9, Jesus says, “All whom that Father has given to me will come to me . . . I will lose none of them, but raise them all up on the last day.” And in 10:28, he adds, “No one can snatch them out of my hand.” For Peter, those words had special significance!

We who trust in Christ are gripped tightly in his hand. He has saved our lives. Praise him because he holds on to us today and will never let go!

Sometimes I laugh and say that there was no way I could have escaped coming to Christ. My family has a long legacy of faith that goes all the way back to the pilgrims arriving on the Mayflower. Both my grandfathers were pastors. My father and uncle were pastors. My brother and several cousins were also ordained. God has been gracious to our extended family for many generations.

In Matthew 8:14,15, the gospel writer reports a brief incident that occurred away from the noisy public crowds. Jesus visited in the home of Peter and found Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a high fever. There in the privacy of that home, Jesus touched this woman. A Jewish man touching a woman in public was improper, but to touch a female still lying in her bed? A female who was not a relative? Unthinkable! Yet Jesus took her by the hand, the fever left, and she rose to serve them.

We don’t know if this mother-in-law was a believer. We hear nothing more about her after this incident. All we know is that Jesus offered God’s grace not only to Peter but to his extended family.

Over and over, God has shown me that Jesus cares not just about those who follow him but also about those they love. He watches over my aging parents and my grown children who are believers, but also my young grandchildren who do not yet know him.

Today, before you become swept up in the day’s activities, take a moment and pray for those you love. Remember that God loves them too.

My oldest son protested my recent devotional where I mentioned that Jesus touched each person he healed. I didn’t make it clear that I was referring to only to the specific event mentioned in Luke 4:40. Of course other places in scripture tell us that Jesus healed people without ever being near them, let alone touching them.

In Luke 9, a large crowd sat listening to Jesus speak. As the hour grew late, the disciples urged him to dismiss the crowd. Jesus responded by asking them to give the people something to eat. “We only have five loaves and a few fish!”

Accepting this small provision, Jesus asked the people to sit down. Then he gave thanks and began breaking the loaves into smaller pieces to distribute to those seated before him. His fingers pulled apart the crust and touched each portion before the disciples passed the bread to the people. All of them ate and had as much as they wanted. With the help of his disciples, Jesus “touched” lives far beyond those closest to him in the crowd.

Our own actions often impact the lives of people we never see. We offer a kind word to a weary cashier and they feel appreciated. They in turn find strength to smile at the next harried shopper, someone who appears after we have moved on. My books and even these devotionals touch lives of people I would never meet in in person. Ponder this: Whose lives will you touch today? Ask God to use you to encourage a stranger in your path.

When our son John was a boy, he had a special pillow called his “comfy pillow.” He took it to bed each night and fell asleep with his arms wrapped around it. He hugged it while he sat in the family room and watched TV. Very soon the pillow became a dirty gray color, and food stains decorated its surface. It also absorbed an unpleasant number of odors. His siblings teased him but this dirty, misshapen pillow still offered him comfort.

In Luke 8:22f, Jesus was standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and told his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side.” They climbed into their boat and were already in the middle of the sea when a fierce storm arose. The gale tossed the small boat side to side. Frothy waves crashed over the bow threatening to sink the vessel. Like a writhing sea monster, the waters lifted the boat high on the crest of a wave one moment only to drop it deep into a trough the next. Dark clouds shrouded the moonlit sky. The disciples shouted in terror, even experienced fishermen like Peter and John. They turned to Jesus for help and found him, according to Mark’s account, sound asleep, resting his weary head on a “comfy” pillow in the back of the boat.

“Master!” they cried as they shook him awake, “Master, don’t you care that we are about to die?”

Jesus lifted his head from the cushion. Surveying the storm-tossed waves, he then looked at his frightened disciples and said, “Where is your faith?” If he ordered them to go over to the other side, didn’t they believe he would get them safely to their destination?

So often when we read this story we focus on the storm, but today pause and think about that pillow. Who placed it there? Before the storm ever hit, God had already provided Jesus with a soft support for his head. God anticipated that Jesus would need rest, even in the midst of a raging tempest.

This year, some of us may experience the gentle calm of a warm manger scene, but others of us may feel trapped in the throes of a storm. We are tossed to and fro by circumstances far beyond our control. But in the midst of the storm, look around you. God knows his children need rest in times of storm. Search your boat. Where has God already provided a “comfy pillow” for you? We can relax and lean on him while he calms the waves around us!

One summer, our friend Tom created raised beds for my backyard garden. It was a dirty and time-consuming task. He had to remove the stubborn weeds and pull back the sod. He dug deep and removed stones from the soil. He built a sturdy frame of wood. He carted in loads of rich topsoil from his own garden. Sharp thorns penetrated his hands. Mud covered his jeans. Sweat soaked his tee shirt.  Tom could have given me the wood and the topsoil and just dumped them in a pile in my yard, but he offered all his labor as a gift. I was humbled and honored by his generosity.

In Luke 7:36, Jesus was dining in the home of a Pharisee when a woman entered the room and knelt down at his feet. Taking out a phial of expensive perfume, the woman began to anoint Jesus. She poured out the contents of the alabaster jar on the bare skin of Jesus feet. She washed his toes and rubbed the callouses on his heels. She wiped them dry with her hair.

Did it ever occur to you that the woman could simply have tied a bow on the jar and handed the bottle of perfume to Jesus as her gift?  It would have been a generous offering.  Instead she added the gift of a very personal touch.

The Pharisee protested. Did Jesus not realize what kind of woman this was? A prostitute! A sinner! But Jesus refused to reject the woman. The Giver of All Good Gifts accepted her gift with humility.

As we select and wrap presents for our our family and friends this season, don’t forget the importance of adding that personal touch.

This past year began with the death of seven of our friends. Every week we attending another funeral. Some of the services were joyful ones. The person had lived a long life and served Jesus. In other cases, however, the person was young – one was still in his teens – and had a whole life stretched out ahead, a life that ended abruptly and prematurely. There was sadness as we said goodbye.

In Luke 7:12, Jesus approached the city of Nain with his disciples. As they entered the gates, a funeral procession came towards them. They were burying the only son of a widow. The mother wept as she followed her son’s coffin out of the city. One chapter later, a man named Jairus sought Jesus’ help for his 12-year-old daughter who was at the point of death. Indeed, the child died before Jesus arrived at the house.

In both cases, Jesus responded in a remarkable way. Despite Jewish customs that declared that anyone who touched the body of a dead person would become ceremonially defiled, Jesus reached out and touched the coffin of the boy, calling him back from death. He took the hand of the dead girl and raised her to life. Jesus was willing to risk becoming defiled in order to serve those in need.

Are you willing to do God’s “dirty” work? We might not be called upon to raise someone from the dead, but are we willing to set aside the constraints of proper society and offer acts of service despite what it might cost to us?

When our children were small, a young woman came to live in our home. The woman, severely depressed, had made multiple attempts to end her own life. Her arms were covered with scars where she had cut herself. My husband and I offered counsel to our guest during this period, but our children had a more powerful effect on her view of herself than all our professional wisdom.

Our children did not know anything of her background. They didn’t understand depression or bipolarism. All they cared was that she knew how to play games of Candyland and Crazy Eights. They snuggled in her lap.  They welcomed her at the door with hugs. They accepted her as she was. With no ulterior motive, they offered our guest a healing touch. Slowly she grasped a new perspective: If these small children accepted her as a friend, perhaps she too could accept herself in the same way.

In Luke 4:40 we read that Jesus touched all of those he healed with his own hands. Luke, a doctor himself, makes a point of saying Jesus touched “every one of them.” Later he made a paste of mud and smeared it on the eyes of a blind man. He stretched out his hand and touched a leper’s sores. They didn’t have to measure up to societal standards before he touched them. He accepted each one where he or she was regardless of their infirmities. He accepts us too.

Now we can do the same for others. Two days ago one of my pregnant clients had a miscarriage. I visited her in the hospital. Even though the pregnancy was not one that she desired, she was in tears. No words can comfort from across a room. With her permission, I gave her a hug and wrapped my arms around her. Just as Jesus accepted me as I was when I first came to him, I was able to recognize my client as the valuable person God made her. Can you do the same for someone you meet today?

The classroom was in chaos. Students refused to sit at their desks. They laughed and threw paper wads across the room. The substitute teacher tried in vain to call them to order, but the students made a mockery of academics. When her efforts had no effect, the teacher called the main office. Minutes later a tall man with a military bearing entered the room. Instantly the students returned to their desks and sat quietly. The school principal spoke with authority.

When Jesus entered the temple courtyard in Jerusalem, he found a similar scene. Instead of people focused on worship, he saw merchants hawking their goods: sheep, cattle, doves. Moneychangers charged exorbitant fees of those who entered the house of God. The disciple John described this scene in detail in John 2:15f.

Anger surged through Jesus. He fashioned a whip of cords, perhaps from the band tied around his own waist. With his own hands gripping the rope, he whirled this way and that. Soon a cacophony of noise filled the air. Sheep bleated. Cattle bolted in confusion. Men shouted and rushed about trying to corral their merchandise, still dodging the cords flailing through the air. Birds fluttered in upside-down cages. Dropping his impromptu whip, Jesus’ hands gripped the edge of a table and flipped it over. Coins spilled on to the floor and clattered in every direction.

When he was done, Jesus stood breathing hard, his heart pounding, his fists still clenched, his nostrils flaring. “You must not turn my Father’s house into a marketplace!” he declared.

This was God’s house and Jesus was prepared to defend it. What about you and me? We know difficult times are coming and those who disregard the holiness of God’s Word make a mockery of Christian values. How will we defend our faith?

Despite the convenience of all the new electronic gadgets like Kindles and Nooks for downloading E-books, I still prefer the tactile sensation of holding a real book in my hands. I love turning the pages, smelling the binding, and hefting the weight of the volume in my hand. And I experience special delight when the book I am holding is one I authored, like my newest release, Standing Tall After Falling Short.  Here on the pages before me are my own words for all to see.

In Luke 4:16-21, early in his ministry Jesus returned to Galilee and visited his hometown of Nazareth. On the Sabbath he entered the local synagogue, and the leaders there handed him the scroll of Isaiah to read to the people. Jesus took the scroll reverently. His hands touched the bulky scroll and lifted it. (The scroll of Isaiah is the largest among the Dead Sea Scrolls and is 24 feet long!) Jesus’ fingers gently spread the edges of the scroll apart, unrolling it to reveal a passage that began, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”  When he finished reading the portion aloud, Jesus rolled up the scroll and handed it back to the attendant. “This Scripture has come true today before your very eyes.”

Every eye was fastened upon Jesus. Luke, Matthew and Mark all attest to the fact that the people were amazed and said Jesus spoke with authority. And well he should. After all, he was “The Word” – the one who authored the book!

When you and I teach from scripture, we do not speak as the author, but we too can speak with authority. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that Scripture gives us authority to teach, reprove, correct, train, and equip God’s people. Do it carefully. Do it reverently.

Most people who know me well realize I love to swim. I love the freedom of movement that is possible in the water. I can do flip turns in a way I could never do on land. But I also enjoy the physical sensations of jumping into the cool water, then feeling it flow through my hair as I push off from the side, and then, at the end of my laps, delighting in the steamy pressure of a hot shower. I walk out of the gym feeling fresh and clean.

In Matthew 3:13-17, Jesus approached John the Baptist and asked his cousin to baptize him. John protested, “I need to be baptized by you!” But Jesus insisted. So down they stepped into the Jordan River. The water touched Jesus’ feet, then his knees, his thighs, his torso. The water soaked his hair.

The Jordan River was not a clear brook. In flood season it became muddy. And worse, the river carried sulfuric deposits that produced an offensive odor. When the prophet Elisha told the leper Naaman to go and bathe seven times in the river, Naaman objected. Weren’t the rivers in his home country far cleaner and more pleasant than this smelly river in Palestine?

But Jesus did not protest. He and John entered the water together. He who was without sin entered a dirty river to be washed by a man who was a sinner! Why? Jesus humbled himself so that one day you and I could be truly refreshed and clean.

Today, as you take your shower and each time you wash your hands, watch the water flow over your skin, carrying away the sweat and grime of the day. Let the water remind you to ask God‘s Spirit to flow through your soul and cleanse it too.