Would you move
through the crowds, if you saw your favorite star, walking the street? What if
there were crowds pushing, what if there was a barricade, and no one was even
allowed to touch him, would you still try?
The stars we admire
in this world are many but men like us, and yet we go through our way to reach
them to get an autograph, a picture, a selfie, a story to tell the friends we
have, an image to hung in our rooms, but for what, to admire, to boast.
I remember one day
watching a video of kids meeting their favorite football stars, how the cried,
the gaping expression on their faces, the tears of joy flowing down their
cheeks. It was sensational, it was emotional. I had to leave my cooking, just
to watch, just to take it in. The flaw is, that the people we struggle so much
as in to touch are mortal men, flawed men, `unclean`, `dead` as is described, Num 19:13, Whosoever touches the dead body of any man
that is dead, and purifies not himself.
The bible has
several instances of God commanding man not to `touch`, this or the other, many
instances of God touching people and the awesome things that occurred
afterward. Most profound are two descriptions vivid when man reaches out to
touch a king. In Esther 5, it is described, that the king `saw` Esther and the
word for seeing actually means perceive. The king saw Esther as she was, for
who she was, for her appeal, beauty, for the favor she bore. The next thing the
king did was to extend his scepter to her so she could touch. The scepter was
the ultimate symbol of the kings authority, in fact when she touched it, Esther 5:3 Then said the king unto her, What wilt
thou, queen Esther? and what [is] thy request? it shall be even given thee to
the half of the kingdom.
The other incident
is from the diseased woman who touched the helm of Jesus's garment. Scripture
paints quite a vivid picture of crowds pushing around Jesus, clamoring just to
get near him. Even among the many, there was a woman so diseased, so rendered unclean
that her very presence in that place defiled the many who could have known, let
alone her touching the Lord. She must have thought to herself, `only if I` then
shall I be well. And indeed her infirmities left her, her plague was gone but
not just that. The bible says, Matt 9:20 And,
behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came
behind [him], and touched the hem of his garment:. Note, that she is
described as woman in this passage, with the Hebrew word, `gune` which
literally means ordinary woman, female. The word used here for touch
is,`haptomai` unlike the one used in other places `naga`. Haptomai, literally
means to rely, to cling to, to fasten oneself around whereas the latter means
to touch, to strike. In other words, she did not just touch and let go, but
instead she clamored to, perhaps that’s one of the other reasons Jesus noticed
her.
The second is what
happens afterward, Matt 9:22 But Jesus turned
him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy
faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
Notice that from being a woman, she becomes `daughter`, the hebrew word used
here is, `thugater` which means Daughter of God, acceptable to God, rejoicing
in God`s peculiar care and protection.
Friends, what you
touch labels you ether clean, accepted, rejected, accursed or it declares you,
righteous, acceptable to God, beloved of Him. Let us then like the woman rush,
strive to touch Jesus, for his life, for acceptance, Matt 14:36 And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his
garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole. Yes that we
may be made whole.
