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The Importance of Touch By Jean Jantzen
A hundred years ago, about 99% of babies in orphanages in the United States died before they were seven months old. Orphanages were an everyday part of the social landscape. Unwanted babies were deposited in these institutions, where modern antiseptic procedures and adequate food seemed to guarantee them at least a fighting chance for a healthy life. But the babies died, not from infectious diseases or malnutrition; they simply wasted away in a condition called "marasmus." Sterile surroundings didn’t cure it; having enough food made no difference. These babies died from a completely different kind of deprivation: lack of touch." "The sensation of touch actually begins in the womb. The skin, derived from the same cells as the nervous system, is a perfect instrument for collecting information about our surrounding environment long before birth. A fetus will withdraw from the touch of a probe at less than 8 weeks of gestation, showing that the link between touch and survival is one of the first and most important protective mechanisms to develop. (The Primacy of Human Touch Ben E BenjaminPhD and Ruth Werner, LMT) Touch can mean the difference between living and dying. Michelangelo understood this when he painted God extending a hand toward Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. God came down and formed man from the clay with his own hands and ever since we’ve needed that divine touch. On the physical plane we need to touch and be touched—holding hands, touching a baby, giving a hug, holding a child, stroking someone’s hair, giving a foot massage—it is through the sense of touch we connect to others. There is a built in need to connect…it is not natural, nor is it God’s will for us to live a sequestered, self-centered, self seeking way of life. On the divine plane we need that connection with God through his Spirit in order to fulfill this loving, giving connection with others. In the Bible touching is important; touching has consequences. Scripture illustrates the impact and importance of touching … baptism, the laying on of hands…anointing for healing, the washing of feet. In fact, we cannot even receive God’s Spirit without hands being laid upon us. (2 Timothy1:6) God gave some examples of the incredible power of touch even in dead bones…as in 2 Kings 13:21. "Once, while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet." Another wonderful example of amazing power of touch is "when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho" (Joshua 3:14-16). We readily admit the awesome power and majesty of God but sometimes we refuse to see God as a man. After the birth of Jesus, the creator God "now occupied human flesh…approachable, available, vulnerable. Yet, mankind preferred the unseen, distant God. We would rather wrestle with principles, dogmas and ideas than hear him call us to himself as a person....Jesus could be touched, and he put us in touch with God…." (Gayle Erwin The Jesus Style p2). There are many examples of Jesus’ healing touch, in fact all who touched him were healed, (Matthew 14:36) whether blind, lame, deaf, diseased. When asked for healing he usually touched the individual with his hands… their eyes, their ears, their tongue. Jesus touched people who were deemed untouchable. The leprous person lived as an outcast in society much like the homeless among us today. In The Gospel According to Mark, William Lane summarizes Jesus’ action: "The touch of Jesus was significant from two points of view. From the perspective of the leper it was an unheard-of-act of compassion which must have moved him deeply. From the perspective of Jesus’ relationship to the ritual system, it indicated that He did not hesitate to act in violation of its regulations when the situation demanded. The ceremonial law gives place to the law of love when the two come into collision" (p. 87). The God of the universe in human form is showing us by his example that we should love everyone in spite of their shortcomings, their sins, their gender, race or nationality; their status in life, their material possessions or lack of them; the aged and infirm, that we should reach out and touch them like Christ did. God has allowed many to suffer through the years; maybe to teach the rest of us empathy and love and to appreciate what we do have. Many churchgoers have problems with and are quite judgmental when talking about persons with addictions, mental problems, the homeless, prostitutes, gay and lesbians, many blaming the persons for the choices they have made without knowing all the facts. We have to ask ourselves how can those troubled people respond when they can read our condescending, disapproving body language from a distance? These are the very people we will be helping and serving in the world tomorrow. How will that be possible if we don’t change our attitude toward them now? Princess Diana was a good role model when she reached out to landmine victims, alcohol and drug addicts, the homeless, those with leprosy and many more. She was photographed talking, touching and hugging the untouchables, the social outcasts and those who needed it most. For us in the church, we don’t have that far-reaching type of opportunity but it’s good to emulate her attitude and to reach out to those we come in contact with. I am sure Jesus could have found another way to show servant leadership to his students, but he chose to touch them, washing their feet with the same hands that made the universe. He showed us by his example the importance of touch, of connecting with others. He told Peter if he did not touch him and wash him Peter could have no part with him. Then he told his disciples to wait for the giving of his Holy Spirit upon each one of them. How important is that touch? Our eternal life depends upon that touch. Phillip Keller tells us in A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23 there is "the actual reality of experiencing and knowing firsthand the feel of His touch—the sense of his spirit upon (our) spirit. There is for the true child of God that intimate, subtle, yet magnificent experience of sensing that comforter by his side." And with that Spirit within us we can connect with our heavenly Father and with our fellow man and in doing so fulfill that law of love knowing we are not alone in the universe. Jesus wants us to have a broader view, a more loving view in reaching out to those who have not been blessed as we have. "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven" (Luke 5 35-37). We need to be touched right to the core of our being by the plight of others. Whatever it takes, God will shatter our hearts of stone and make them hearts of flesh so we can emulate Jesus who touched the sinners, the untouchables, the outcasts. (Ezekiel 11:18-20) We need to be more like Jesus; approachable, available, vulnerable.
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