Jesus’ Touch Of Compassion
“When Jesus came down from the hill, great crowds followed him. Then a man with a skin disease came to Jesus. The man bowed down before him and said, “Lord, you can heal me if you will.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man and said, “I will. Be healed!” And immediately the man was healed from his disease. Matthew 8:1-3
The man in these verses makes one appearance, has one request, and receives one touch. But that one touch changed his life forever!
Jesus’ touch here is even more significant because, in those times, leprosy was the most dreaded of diseases causing very obvious deformity to the body. It was very bad, and the social consequences were as severe as the physical ones. It was considered contagious, and so the leper was quarantined and effectively banished to a leper colony.
In the Bible the leper is symbolic of the ultimate outcast: infected by a condition he did not ask for, and rejected by those he knew, avoided by people he did not know, and ultimately condemned to a future he could not bear.
From the verse, we see that the touch did not heal the disease. Matthew is careful to mention that it was the pronouncement and not the touch of Christ that cured the condition; “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man and said, ‘I will. Be healed!’ And immediately the man was healed from his disease” Matthew 8:3.
The infection was banished by a word from Jesus. The loneliness, however, was treated by a touch from Jesus.
You are not alone. Emmanuel is right there with you. In compassion, he will touch you and by his word, he will heal you.