TOUCH

The sensation of touch is an amazing one – it’s one God’s given us to feel close to someone – to feel loved, secure. Think of a good handshake, a hug from a good friend, maybe the kiss of a loved one….

I came to this passage in my Bible reading the other week, and, though I’ve read it many times before, God’s living and active word just opened up and gave me a fresh glimpse of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here’s the passage:

Luke 7:36-38

“One of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him, and He went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that He was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed His feet and anointed them with the ointment.”

So here we have Jesus, God incarnate, holy, pure, righteous, judge, and yet at the same time full of love, truth, mercy, and grace, sitting in the house of a religious Pharisee.

Enter the woman. A sinner.

Now, “a sinner” definitely had certain meaning back in that day for this woman. It could have been worded: “who was immoral,” which meant in our terms, “who was a slut.” This is a girl who’s been either unfaithful to her husband, or perhaps sleeping around. Do you know people like that? These women, beautifully made in the image of God, follow a lie that tells them that either such a sinful life will get them the pleasure they crave, or that, hey, they’re “damaged goods,” they deserve such a low lifestyle.

She’s burnt by men, feeling empty, guilty, in the pit, disgraced, defiled, full of shame. Will she stay like this forever? What happens if the religious people, who she knows already know about her life, actually decide to carry out the disgraceful and sometimes deadly punishments that she deserves?
Can you imagine the hiding she must retreat into so much? How trapped she feels? All she wants to do is cry out, to be saved from her enslaving life, to touch God, receive forgiveness, but she knows she’s defiled, unworthy, shamed.

Have YOU been there? Have you been in the place where you see how terrible your sin is: you see its guilt, you feel the shame and unworthiness it’s brought upon you – and you know you deserve shame deserve a beating, deserve God’s frown, deserve condemnation. You want to reach out and feel the love of Jesus again, but will He accept you? Will He still smile when He sees you? Can you be forgiven…?

Back to the woman: then she hears about Jesus. This God/man who she has heard is full of healing, full of restoration, full of grace, full of forgiveness. She knows He’s her only chance. But then she learns that Jesus is at the house of a Pharisee, the person who embodies her condemnation. However, despite the risk, the woman takes the chance and pursues meeting Jesus at their house. It’s her only hope.

She sees Jesus, her heart full of pain, sorrow, and repentance. She brings Him an alabaster jar of expensive perfume- her all-everything is worth worshiping Him. The author Luke records that the woman was “standing behind Him at His feet” – she can’t even begin to look Him in the face. She lowers herself to the lowest position possible – she knows she deserves nothing. She weeps, she pours out her service, and she pours out her soul in worship.

And then the Pharisee says something that, though he meant it in a derogatory way, has such a beautiful truth in it. He says (v. 39), “If this man were a prophet He would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

But isn’t this remarkable? Jesus WAS a prophet – He knew EVERYTHING this woman had done. He know “who and what sort of woman” this was. He knew her wicked past, her defiled and damaged heart, and He – what? – knew she was “touching Him.” This woman got her hearts desire – despite her baggage and shame, she wanted to touch forgiveness. She wanted to touch God. She got to touch Jesus.

And that’s the beauty of Jesus. He’s the bridge between man and God, between the guilty and the innocent, the unrighteous and the holy, the shamed and He who is honored above all, between those caught in the pit of their sin and the One who can give them salvation.

And, in Jesus, like the woman, no matter what we’ve done, we can touch God. We get to touch Him. By His grace.

So many times I, like the woman, have wondered if there was hope for someone like me, who, though I know the love I ought to be giving Jesus, gladly trade Him in to be satisfied with those false idols that I try (vainly) to fill my life up with. Will He STILL forgive me? Will He STILL love me and be proud of me?

In Jesus, and only in Jesus, the answer is always Yes. In Jesus, I, the defiled, can be cleansed. In Jesus I, the guilty, can be forgiven. In Jesus I, the shameful and disgraced, can find grace and honor. In Jesus-full of life, grace, acceptance, warmth, and love.

So when you feel in the depths of your sin, know that, no matter what you’ve done or how many times you’ve done it, you can still, in Jesus, touch the Almighty- touch the divine-touch life, joy, peace, hope, forgiveness-touch God.

Not only is this a hope for you, but think of your interaction with others. As we have a mission to reach out to the world, do we have a burden to see those who are distraught and far from God come and touch Jesus? Is our desire to judge, or is it to see souls be redeemed? Is it to cast the stone, or desire to see sinners-those destroyed by their sin, find forgiveness in Jesus? May our hearts burn to see people healed by the same grace and over-flowing love that we’ve discovered in touching Jesus.

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~ by lukevalenti on February 10, 2010.