The Common Touch

"Jesus said, 'Someone touched me’” (Luke 8:46).

When I fly over a large city and see all the lights spread out below me I wonder how God can keep track of all the people in the world. And why would he care about me? 

There's an incident reported in the Gospel of Luke that sets my mind at ease.

Jesus was passing through a city when he was surrounded by a large number of people, jostling him and crowding in on all sides. A woman with an incurable illness reached out and lightly touched the fringe of his cloak. She was instantly healed. (Luke, who was himself a physician, reports that she had spent all the money she had on doctors and none of them could help her.) 

"Who touched me?" Jesus asked. 

Peter replied, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said again, “Someone touched me.” Out of all those crowded around Jesus and clamoring for his attention he knew that someone had reached out to touch him. 

Among other gifts, the story assures us that our Lord is moved by the slightest touch—a whisper, a sigh, a groan, an inarticulate cry, a mumbled, jumbled prayer. 

There may have been superstition in this woman’s touch. Perhaps she thought there was a magic in his robe. Even so Jesus took note of her—as he will do for you and for me! 

Think of that! 7,655,957,369 people in the world and the Son of God has time for you. All you have to do is reach out and touch him. "We may be very near Christ, without touching,” F.B. Meyer wrote, "but no one can touch Him, however lightly, without deriving the grace that we need."

David Roper

2.20.19