“To Touch Him”
Luke 6:17-19

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany—February 17, 2019

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Our text is today’s Gospel Reading, which begins: “A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.”

In the television series “Star Trek” there are fantasized all sorts of amazing medical advances in the 23rd century and beyond.  McCoy and Crusher and the other doctors simply wave some sort of instrument over the patients, and they are immediately diagnosed and healed.  Of course, it doesn’t really work that way.  It’s only science fiction, and those marvelous instruments were just pretend props.  In fact, because the original “Star Trek” series had a tight budget, they pioneered making 23rd century props out of common 1960’s household items.  Such as the famous “dermal regenerator,” which was actually a modified hairbrush, they picked up at a drugstore down the street from Paramount Studios.  If only marvelous medical advances were that easy.

Of course, way back in the 1st century, Jesus could have already actually done what “Star Trek” only fantasizes for the 23rd century.  “For in him,” Paul says in Colossians, “all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.”  “He is the true God and the eternal life,” John says.  “All power,” Jesus declares, “in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

During his earthly life and ministry, Jesus did not always or fully make use of this divine power.  As Paul says in Philippians, “He made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death—even death on a cross!”

Jesus’ divine power was usually hidden, covered, as with a veil, by his human nature.  That’s why the people he grew up with in Nazareth said in amazement, “Where did this man get these things?  What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles!  Isn’t this the carpenter?”  All they saw was the carpenter they had known since he was a boy, all they saw was the VEIL of his human nature.

But, after he began his ministry as the Messiah, at times Jesus pulled back the veil, and let his divine nature show through.  We call those events miracles.  As the Gospel of John says after Jesus’ first miracle, changing water into wine, “He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.”  That was the purpose of his miracles, that is why he performed these feats, to prove who he really is: the promised Messiah. 

For, the Old Testament had predicted that when the true Messiah came he would perform many miracles, especially miracles of healing.  As Matthew reports, “Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.  The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. . .  This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.’” 

In the first Christian sermon, recorded in Acts, Peter says, “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you, by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him.”  Jesus himself put it this way, “The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me. . .  Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”

So, Jesus’ healing miracles served a specific purpose, a fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, a sign that he is the promised Messiah.  As John says at the end of his Gospel, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Jesus’ healing miracles were also symbolic of his SPIRITUAL mission as the Messiah.  He came into a sick world, to heal the spiritually sick. The bad news is we are all afflicted with an inherited spiritual disease called sin.  Left untreated, it is eternally fatal, every time.  There is no cure, there is no escape, except one.  As Jesus proclaimed, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

That is the only treatment, that is the only cure for you, for  the spiritual sickness of your sin: Repent and take the cure Jesus gives you, the forgiveness of sins he earned for you.  As Peter says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross . . . by his wounds you have been healed.”

Spiritually you are now completely healed in God’s sight, completely healed of your sin through faith in Christ.  But, because we no longer live in a perfect world, even though SPIRITUALLY you are now completely healed in God’s sight, PHYSICALLY we do still get sick, and some day we will all physically die, unless the Lord’s Second Coming occurs first.  But, Jesus also promises you the ultimate healing, to heal even death itself: “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live.”

Malachi gives the final Old Testament prophecy of the how Messiah will heal people, in the last few verses of the Old Testament:  “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”

If you grew up around cattle, you know what a wonderful, beautiful, comforting image that is.  In this life, you may be lame and crippled in all sorts of ways.  But, in the life to come, you WILL be finally, fully healed, of every disease and infirmity: “You will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”  As the book of Revelation says: “He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

You have received from the physician of your soul the wonderful, blessed cure for sin, and so for you and all who trust in Jesus, physical sickness is no longer EVER any kind of a punishment.  As Psalm 103 says, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” 

And for you death itself is no longer a punishment, because death has been transformed for you into the doorway of eternal life.  “In my Father’s house are many rooms,” Jesus promises. . .  “I am going there to prepare a place for you. . .  I will come again and take you to be with me.”  When you die, you are not leaving home, but going home, where Jesus has prepared a place for you.

“And the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.”  Like those imaginary doctors on “Star Trek,” Jesus really could have just waved his hand and healed the sick.  Once a centurion with a sick servant came to him and said, “‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.  But just say the word, and my servant will be healed’ . . .  And his servant was healed at that very hour.”

Although Jesus could simply say the word and effect healing, we see in the Gospels that usually he healed through touching:

“Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. . . [and] immediately he was cured of his leprosy.”

“He touched her hand and the fever left her.”

“Then he touched their eyes . . . and their sight was restored.”

“And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.”

“Those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.”

“People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.”

“And the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.”

Jesus healed through physical touch not because he had to, but to leave no doubt that HE was the source of the healing, and therefore he IS the promised Messiah.  In his wisdom, God created us humans with five senses, we are tactile, sensory beings.  In fact, studies have shown that the sense of hearing alone has the least lasting impact upon us, and the most impact comes from MULTI-sensory events.  And, so, Jesus uses not only the sense of hearing, to communicate through his preaching the Good News that he is the Messiah, but also the senses of touch and sight, as the sick touch him, and people see that they are healed.

Still today, Jesus heals you spiritually through his physical touch of your life.  He could just “zap” faith into your heart.  Or, he could communicate the Good News only through the written and spoken word.  But, instead he still chooses to work through physical means, to communicate the Good News not only through the word, with our sense of hearing, but also to communicate the Good News through our senses of seeing, feeling, tasting, and touching. 

He touches and heals us through Holy Baptism.  As Paul says in Titus, “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared . . .  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”  We see and hear and feel the water, communicating to us in a multi-sensory event the Good News that your sins are all washed away, as Paul says in Acts, “Be baptized and wash away your sins.”

He touches and heals us through Holy Communion.  We taste the bread and wine, communicating to us in a multi-sensory event the Good News that he gave his body and poured out his blood for you, for the forgiveness of sins.  As Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? . . .  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

If someone famous were in our midst today, if perhaps the President of the United States or the Queen of England happened to be in Kansas, and chose to worship with us, we would all want to shake their hand, to touch them.  And if they put their arm around you for a picture, or gave your child a big hug, you would feel especially lucky.

Well, you are especially BLESSED, because you know the personal touch of someone far greater than any monarch or president.  You know the personal touch of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  

“And the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.”  Just as he preached to the people that day, and also touched those who crowded around him and healed them, in the same way he still speaks to you through his Word, and he also physically touches you in his Sacraments, to give you spiritual healing from your sin. 

“And the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.”  Today, as you come to his table to partake of the Sacrament, you have the same wonderful privilege and joy as those people who crowded around him that day long ago, you have the privilege and joy, “To Touch Him.”