More Than Human Touch
More Than Human Touch
Sermon preached June 5, 2016
Texts: Luke 7:11-17
Bruce Springsteen, “Human Touch” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85cNRQo1m3A
Sometimes we all need a little of that human touch, just a little of that human touch.
We also live in a time when we are aware of the need for limits around touch. We rightly teach our children about good touch and bad touch. We want to empower them, and be empowered ourselves to say “no” to touch. As a pastor, I am required every five years to attend a class on professional boundaries, which includes thinking about appropriate touch. I do this not only because it is required, but because I think it is important. I take the limits of touch very seriously, even as a bit of a hugger, as someone who recognizes the power of touch and uses it.
In Jesus time, there were some different limits around touch, cultural limits more than moral limits. When a woman has a discharge of blood that is her regular discharge from her body, she shall be in her impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening…. Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. (Leviticus 15:19, 21)
In describing the practice of priests, there was this prohibition: He shall not go where there is a dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or mother (Leviticus 21:11). It was not just priests who needed to be concerned about contact with the dead. Those who touch the body of a dead human being shall be unclean seven days…. All who touch a corpse, the body of a human being who has died, and do not purify themselves, defile the tabernacle of the Lord; such persons shall be cut off from Israel. (Numbers 19:11, 13)
These were among the religious limits on touch in the Judaism of Jesus. The story we read becomes more remarkable for this. Jesus and his disciples are entering a town called Nain, about which we know almost nothing. There are no other biblical references, and Luke is the only gospel writer to tell this story. Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd are entering the town, when coming out of the town was some kind of funeral procession, which also contained a large crowd. The dead person was a man, a mother’s only son, and the woman had already lost her husband. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Jesus goes over and touches the stretcher on which the dead man is being carried out of town. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. As one might expect, all are astonished, amazed and think that God is doing something in this Jesus.
Jesus ignores the ritual prohibition of his religion. Moved by deep compassion for a widow who has now lost her son, Jesus reaches out and touches, and in that touch there is power. It is a human touch and a more than human touch. It is God’s life-giving touch. For Jesus, compassion is more important than ritual purity. Jesus understands the plight of widows in his culture. Without a man – a husband or a son, widows were often destitute, forced to beg or to sell themselves. Jesus breaks some rules out of compassion. He touches, and in his touch there is new life.
So let’s recognize that the limits on touch that we are talking about with Jesus are different from the limits on touch that professionals are learning about. There are moral limits and boundaries that need to be respected. Yet while doing so, we need to risk touch. We need to reach out and touch. Our human touch can also be the touch of Jesus in the lives of others, a touch that gives life, that heals and frees in some way. Our human touch can also be the more than human touch of Jesus.
In a 2013 essay in Psychology Today an author wrote that our society has a skin hunger, a need for touch. He noted that more people than ever live alone. Research indicates that touch is correlated with lower blood pressure, with a healthier immune system, with less intense pain. Many of us remember the horror stories about orphanages in Romania during the communist era, when babies were left unattended for long periods of time, and were found to suffer some profound ill effects from that lack of touch – impaired emotional and attachment development, an increase in stress hormones, lethargy. People need a little of that human touch. We, in the name and Spirit of Jesus, need to offer that human touch, which we trust can become more than human touch.
One of the baptismal vows of the church is, “Will you use the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms it presents itself?” Underlying that questions is the broader question of how we will use our freedom and power. Will we use it well? One of the powers we have is the power of touch. Will we use it well? Will we risk some discomfort in reaching out to touch the hurting, the bruised, those considered less attractive, the sick, the dying, the grieving? Yes, moral limits need to be respected, and asking if someone would like a hug seems a good practice, but ask, then hold a hand, offer a hug.
Friday morning there was a small gathering including some of us from First UMC. We were out at Park Hill Cemetery for a brief service of committal for the ashes of Carolyn Glibbery. Fred, of course, was there, carefully making his way up a hill with the aid of a walker and a friend. Words were spoken, prayers prayed, poems and Scriptures read. The service ended and I could think of no more healing thing I could do than simply walk over and take Fred’s hand in mine and hold it for a bit. It reminded me of numerous other times when a hand held, or rubbed gently on a shoulder, or a hug given seemed the best way to try and be human, and try and be something of the love of God for someone. I hope that I can be a little bit of the healing touch of Jesus sometimes. I know how much I appreciate receiving that healing touch of Jesus from others.
We all need a little of that human touch, which can also be a more than human touch. God has given us the grace and power to be that more than human touch for others. Let’s use it well. Amen.