Touching the Untouchable – Do you feel untouched?

Touching the Untouchable – Do you feel untouched?

What would change in our lives if we asked: "What would Jesus do?" There are many ways in which we cannot follow Christ, but in principle we can follow Him as He becomes involved with human need. One of the best ways for us to know whether we are following Christ is to ask whether we have had to make hard choices in His favor. When Abraham told God that he loved Him, God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice Isaac. That ultimately is the true nature of love; love makes sacrifices.

In Mark 1, Christ encountered a leper. It's difficult for us to grasp the loathsomeness of leprosy in ancient times. The victim would experience lethargy and pain; after that, discolored patches would appear over his body. Then nodules (pink and brown) would ulcerate. These open sores would emit a foul discharge. The voice would become hoarse, the breath wheezing. Soon the victim's head would become so contorted that he scarcely looked human. Finally, there was a loss of sensation because the nerve trunks became affected. The muscles wasted away, and eventually the fingers and the toes would fall off. Most people lived an average of 9 years after contracting the disease. Someone has rightly observed that leprosy made a human being a hideous wreck.

And what was the response of the people? In keeping with the Old Testament law, lepers were to be kept outside the camp. In Leviticus 13:45, 46 we read, "As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, 'Unclean! Unclean!' He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp."

Lepers were shunned and did not even have the right to speak to other human beings. They cried "Unclean! Unclean!" so that other people would not get near them. They always had to stand at a distance, and eventually die in their aloneness. During the middle ages, a leper was brought into the church and the priest read the burial rights to him. Then a black garment was put upon him and he was avoided like the plague. He was considered dead, though yet alive.

The Leper's Cry

But let's consider this leper. He says to Christ, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean" (Matthew 8:2). This was a cry of desperation. If Christ couldn't help him, who could? If Christ, turned His back upon this man, he would lose hope forever. This was his only chance.

It was also a cry of submission and faith. Though the leper knew that Christ had the ability to cure him, he left the decision with our Lord. "If You are willing, You can make me clean." Without any promises to go on, he threw himself upon the mercy of God. Behind this cry of agony is not only a desire for healing but a cry for significance - he wants to know whether he matters in the impersonal world in which he lived, whether his condition matters to Christ.

The Scripture says Christ had compassion on him. He doesn't just show sympathy; He does two things that are absolutely essential for emotional and spiritual balance. The Scripture says "He touched him" (v. 3). That certainly startled everyone. In the Gospel of Luke we read this leper had sores over his whole body (Luke 5:12). You simply did not touch such a person. Christ could have healed him without that loving touch, but the Savior wanted to show His identification with human need and pain.

The Leper Touched

Today there are many people who have never known a meaningful loving touch. You've heard the report about babies who are born in a hospital; their needs are taken care of, but unless they are cuddled and held they will shrivel up emotionally and some will even die. In fact, researchers are finding that when they videotape how a mother takes care of her baby, it is almost possible to predict whether that child will grow up with or without emotional trauma.

We must remember that the grace of God is able to intervene and change the failures of parents. But without such intervention, children who are unloved, untouched, and rejected as a nuisance, almost surely, will grow up being unable to deal with the emotional demands of life.

In the Old Testament, fathers bestowed a blessing upon their children with a loving touch and a tender word. Researchers are discovering that there are physiological benefits to meaningful touch. For example, it increases the hemoglobin of the body; the tissues receive more oxygen. In fact, a hug can be so invigorating that it lowers one's blood pressure. A UCLA study estimated that if married couples were to give one another 8 to 10 meaningful touches a day, they may live up to 2 years longer.

But consider also the spiritual and emotional benefits of a loving touch. Marilyn Monroe, famous for her beauty, was an illegitimate child who grew up in a series of foster homes. One day a news reporter asked her whether she ever felt loved when she was growing up. She thought for a moment and then replied, "Yes, once. When I was perhaps seven or eight, I was with a woman who was putting on her make-up and she was in a good mood. When I walked by she playfully took the rouge puff and patted my cheeks - for that one moment I felt loved."

Just think of it! Here is a woman thinking back to one instance when she felt loved. It was so meaningful that years later it brought tears to her eyes. Marilyn Monroe became a promiscuous woman, possibly because she was looking for the love she did not have as a child. Many women today admit that they become promiscuous because it is the price that must be paid to be loved and to be held.

Recently, a man told me he was brought up in an alcoholic home. Since both of his parents were bound to the bottle, he was never touched, held nor loved. A passage of Scripture that means much to him is found in Psalm 139, where we read that God "leads us by his hand" and "the Lord fashions us with his hand." "At least," he says, "I'm glad to know that God touched me even though my parents did not." Yes, it is possible to be "hugged into shape."

Within the church today there are many people who did not receive a tender touch when they were growing up. We have a responsibility as the body of Christ to fulfill this need. I realize, of course, that it may be risky to suggest a physical touch lest it become an occasion for a sensual touch. But there is such a thing as a holy hug, as well as an unholy hug. The way you tell the difference is whether the hug increases your blood pressure or lowers it!

Christ's Gracious Words

Next, Christ spoke the words, "I am willing; be cleansed." You can be sure that the leper never forgot the gracious words that proceeded from the mouth of our Lord. And if you never received words of love and encouragement when you were growing up, you will probably either become a workaholic (still trying to get people's attention so that they may speak well of you), or you may sink into withdrawal and depression. There are children whose whole lives have become ensnared and emotionally twisted because they have never had affirmation and love.

As a pastor I have frequently counseled those who have had bitter experiences in life. Many have fallen into sexual sin, and though they have confessed these sins they still feel guilty about them. Often, as a representative of Jesus Christ, I have said, "You have been cleansed, go your way." There are people who need to know that they are forgiven. Christ touched the untouchable! And He invites us to do it in His stead!

Dorie Van Stone was badly abused as a child. Marvelously brought to Christ, she now lives a new life dedicated to helping others who are going through her trials. One day she received this note left in her hotel room by a woman survivor of child-abuse, "I wanted to isolate you all to myself, to grab you and not let anyone else near you - you knew me - you spoke my words, many of your lonely moments were mine. The others couldn't possibly understand - they have always been loved - they always have been accepted and understood - they always have had someone they belonged to - you and I never did. But once we knew Christ loved us, no one could ever take Him Away! They could never, never touch our soul again. He had us for eternity. It's another tune that we dance to, a different drum... We know the meaning of the groanings and moanings of our soul, the times when voices and words do not exist. Yet Christ is our voice to God, our interpreter, our ‘healing balm.’”

Who are the untouchables of today? They may not appear untouchable for they may be very attractive. I'm speaking about people who feel as if they are untouchable, those who are living in an emotional wasteland.

Our Responsibility

First there are those who were molested as children. They feel unclean, they do not like to be touched and they live with shame. One woman told me she is angry because she herself is a victim of abuse. "But where are the abusers?" she asks. Let me say to anyone who may be reading this, if you are an abuser, in the name of Christ I appeal to you to stop!

Then there are divorced people. Sometimes we are uncomfortable with them, because we know that someone is always guilty when a divorce takes place. But I've met a lot of innocent people out there who have been victims of bad marriages. I recall one woman who said that the Sunday after her divorce was finalized she came into church and felt as if she had a big "D" branded on her forehead. Divorced - Unclean! Many of these people, particularly single parents, desperately need the love and the support of the church. Some of our fathers should become surrogate fathers for children who do not have a father.

And what about the disease AIDS? There are many in our society who have this horrid disease and will shortly die. Yes, they may have contracted it through homosexuality, but then again there are many innocent victims who have the disease. Some who were practicing homosexuals have come to know Christ as Savior, and yet they still have the disease.

Dorie Van Stone told the story of a young man who just sat and stared after one of her seminars. When everyone else had left, he came up and said, "Dorie, I was thrown out on the street at the age of 9, my mother did not want me. I became a homosexual and contracted AIDS. A year ago, I became a Christian. Dorie, please tell me ... please tell me that I am forgiven! Tell me that I am forgiven!" She showed the young man passages of Scripture that assured him that he had been cleansed by Christ. And then she took him in her arms and held him as she would her own son. As his tears fell onto her sweater he said, "Dorie, nobody touches me ... some of my friends even think they could get AIDS through my tears."

That's what Christ would have done. This is my challenge to you: Pray that God will give you someone with whom you can be sacrificially involved... someone who can never repay you, someone who may not have a family or who is passing through a difficult trial. Yes, even someone who may be a bother. In the name of Christ, let us reach out and touch them and thus represent our Lord and Savior on earth.

Erwin Lutzer