In the Direction of Jesus’ Touch
Good Morning Friends,
On a rainy dark night last weekend a black SUV ran down a young mother in the Winn Dixie Shopping Center parking lot in Immokalee. As she was returning to her car, having bought milk for her family, she was the victim of a fatal hit and run. She died. We prayed for her family and two little children on Monday and continue to pray. Of course the family wants answers. Why? Who? How could this happen? It goes without saying that almost everyone wants something. The children want their mother back. Well that is what our heart yearns for, but in this case that is not happening. So what are we really looking for anyway? What are we really hungering for…is it comfort? Knowledge? Companionship? Justice? Love? Beauty? Happiness? For we who believe, the process of satisfying these hungers is most certainly going to take us In the Direction of Jesus’ Touch.
Scripture:20
My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 (NIV)
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him.
Mark 5:21-24 (NRSV)
My child, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.
Proverbs 4:20-22 (NRSV)
40A leper* came to him begging him, and kneeling* he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ 41Moved with pity,* Jesus* stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ 42Immediately the leprosy* left him, and he was made clean.
Mark 1:40- 42 (NRSV)
Message: Peter and Paul had some amazing healing gifts. More so Jesus. Perhaps you have a healing touch as well. I think the nurse healed of Ebola might understand for she could not be physically touched by others for a time. But for people to receive the best gift… for a person to share it… they must let Jesus come into their heart. That is what Jarius did. Here is a man of faith, a leader, a worshipper, a man of prayer, a man of faith focused on the most important thing in his life at that moment. The amazing thing is that Jesus, on one of the busiest days of his life, was willing to go in a new direction to help him realize that God will take care of our needs in accordance with our willingness to put faith into action. Here we discover to trust God to reach out to those you have died and awaken them in our memories and in the hope we might be joined together again after our lives have been lived fully. So too, in pity Jesus healed the leper, and not since Elisha had a leper been healed and never before a Jew. And Jesus goes about it in a pretty compassionate fashion but also as an announcement of the Messiah’s presence. He could have just said, “go you are now clean,” and it would have been so, but Jesus was moved to touch a man who was not expecting a human touch. He was a man in exile, difficult to touch. No one else had even come close to this leper much less offered to create such a very emotional and moving memory, a memory that the man would remember forever…a divine touch. He had been touched in pity and compassion by the Savior of mankind. And so too today we are called as the Body of Christ to be deeply moved, for Jesus has come to us… people damaged by sin that like leprosy was eating away at us and causing us to lose our feeling toward what is right and good. Like leprosy we are confronted each day with something we cannot get rid of by ourselves, something that will ultimately destroy us… That is until He comes, and looks at our insides, comes to us offering to turn us into thankful Christians. And when he comes to us we are not to be embarrassed and turn away, we are to accept His love, and when we see others in need, He asks we follow Him and His Way.
Pray we have words of compassion for those who have lost touch with divine love. Pray we receive and express the healing of a kind word…an inspiring word…a cleansing touch. Pray we reach out to others in need. Pray we realize that the only real peace anyone can have is peace with God which comes through faith in His Son Jesus. Pray we have this lasting peace with God. Pray we reach out in praise of the healing power of God’s abiding peace. Pray we give back in love what I have received in love. Pray we look in the right direction for our answers.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 