Welch begins this chapter by reminding us how Jesus really succeeded in associating with outcasts. The Pharisees asked why He was a friend of "tax collectors and sinners", the very dregs of society: the divorcer, the adulteress, the thief, the physically handicapped or abused, the blind, the molested. Jesus looked for them and they looked for Him! The Jews expected God to be close but not too close. Jesus came close, even touching the untouchable!
What does it mean to be touched? We're touched constantly throughout our day as people brush up against us, but what about the deliberate touch of someone you love, or who loves you? Welch describes how when you love someone you touch them. Attachment theory says that the first way we attach to someone is through the senses, which includes touch. Think about how we attach to a baby? We get close, get them to look at us, hold their hand, get them to grasp our finger. So touch is important to a secure attachment.
But sometimes there is a harmful touch, purposeful, intentional harmful touch, which can shame us, especially if it is sexual. This kind of touch can't be broken except through a good touch that erases and replaces the harmful touch (p.129).
Welch then looks at OT touching, where he tells us that Scripture is all about touching. The priest touched the consecrated (made holy) altar and the holiness rubbed off on him; some Israelites were burying a man and quickly threw his body into Elisha's (a holy prophet) tomb and when the body touched Elisha's bones it quickly came back to life (2 Kgs 13:21); Aaron, the high priest laid his hands on the scapegoat (an actual live goat) and confessed the peoples' sins over the goat, transferring their sin onto the goat so that the goat, not the people, would carry the weight of the sin (Lev 16:20-22); prophet Elisha stretched himself over top of a dead boy, touching him so he came alive again (2 Kgs 4:32-34).
In the OT touch was usually a good thing but you still needed to be careful. When God came to the people at Mt Sinai they had to ritually wash themselves but even then if someone touched the mountain they would die (Ex 19:10-13); when ark was returned and unauthorized Uzziah touched it, he died (2 Sam 6:6-7).
What we have to learn from this, Welch tells us, is that touch has a deeper meaning -- get touched at the wrong time by the wrong person and you at least became unclean, even might die; get touched at the right time by the right person and you come to life (p.131).
So now Welch goes on to look at the purposeful touch of Jesus. Jesus intentionally touched many, healing the lame, blind, leprous, discarded and sinful. With the story in Matthew of the leper (Mt 8:1-3) you see how Jesus makes Himself unclean to make the leper clean. Can we make this our story??? Can we say, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."? Welch urges us to do just that, not to just nod our head in agreement but to actually say those words!!! If we can't say it, pray that God will help you say it, and then we also have to BELIEVE it. Do we really believe what God says? If we don't then we have to be careful because in a sense then we are actually saying our worthlessness has more authority than Jesus. Jesus is NOT telling the truth, that His touch is less powerful than Elisha's (p. 132).
Now Welch points us toward the story of the woman with a bleeding for twelve years (Luke 8:42-48). Her touching Jesus was totally intentional but she wanted it to stay secret because she was UNCLEAN and when she touched Him she made Him unclean. Are we also willing to contaminate the KING? What she did was done in FAITH. Faith is our response to Jesus. Welch tells us that Jesus makes the first move, bee-lining it toward us and then we respond "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." or simply, "Yes Lord, I believe."
THIS IS THE GOSPEL -- GOD TOUCHES US (my emphasis of Welch's words). Christ displaces our shame and replaces it with holiness (2 Cor 5:21). Welch describes it as "With our touch Jesus becomes our scapegoat, in His touch Jesus takes our sin and absorbs our shame" (Ps 69:9, Rom 15:8).
THIS IS FAITH -- WE REACH OUT AND TOUCH THE HOLY ONE (my emphasis of Welch's words). Faith -- or touching Jesus -- means saying, "Jesus, I need you." (p. 136) Shame may make it hard to say that and our instinct is to turn inward, rather than putting our trust and confidence in Jesus but EXPOSE that LIE! Even as we have seen this as self-protection, Welch warns us that it is actually UNBELIEF. Shame and unbelief are very close cousins. BEWARE!
Truly look at what happened when Jesus came: unclean people were filled with hope and boldly ignored the townspeople and searched for Jesus. When they found Him they felt compelled to touch Him = faith, they came ALIVE!!! Join them and purposefully reach out to touch Him today!!!
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