The Healing Touch
Jesus did the unthinkable. He touched an untouchable. To the Jews of Jesus’ day, touching a leper was unimaginable, yet when a leper asked to be made clean, “Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ Immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (Mt. 8:3). The additional expression “put out his hand” focuses attention on the act of touching. The result was miraculous; the physically ill, social outcast leper was immediately cleansed.
There is more here than physical healing. Jesus could have healed him by just speaking. He did not just speak; He touched him. The touch had social implications. The leper was not just healed, he was cleansed. He was healed of a physical disease and cleansed from his social disgrace and his spiritual defilement.
The leper was healed and helped when Jesus touched him, because Jesus, as God in the flesh, had the power to do that. We do not have that kind of power, but the story reminds us of the healing power of touch.
In his book, Love and Survival, Dr, Dean Ornish, the famous heart doctor, writes, “The simple act of touching someone is a powerful way to begin healing loneliness and isolation. While the most important benefits of touching may be beyond measurement, some can be observed and studied. The experience of being in an intensive care unit is a powerfully isolating one for many people because they spend much of their time alone. When a doctor or nurse or technician appears, the tubes and wires and machinery often become the focus of most of their time and attention” (Ornish, Love and Survival, p. 70).
Ornish goes on to cite a series of studies in intensive care units by Dr. James Lynch and his colleagues, who studied men and women who had significant irregular heartbeats called ventricular arrhythmias and were under constant monitoring in the coronary care unit. “They found that a significant reduction in irregular heartbeats occurred when the nurse or doctor touched the patients to take their pulse. In some of these patients, pulse taking had the power to completely suppress irregular heartbeats that had previously been occurring.” Dr. Lynch has written a book about this entitled, The Broken Heart: The Medical Consequences of Loneliness. Lynch says “reflected in our hearts there is a biological basis for our need to form loving human relationships. If we fail to fulfill that need, our health is in peril" (Lynch, cited by Ornish, Love and Survival, p. 70).
As the phone company use to say, “Reach out and touch someone.” Do more than shake hands. Hug. Touch someone on the shoulder. Pat people on the back—literally!
Obviously, all of this needs to be done selectively and with sensitivity; but with those we know, our family, close friend, and, in some cases, people we just meet, we need to touch them. It heals—them and us.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 2/26/2009
There is more here than physical healing. Jesus could have healed him by just speaking. He did not just speak; He touched him. The touch had social implications. The leper was not just healed, he was cleansed. He was healed of a physical disease and cleansed from his social disgrace and his spiritual defilement.
The leper was healed and helped when Jesus touched him, because Jesus, as God in the flesh, had the power to do that. We do not have that kind of power, but the story reminds us of the healing power of touch.
In his book, Love and Survival, Dr, Dean Ornish, the famous heart doctor, writes, “The simple act of touching someone is a powerful way to begin healing loneliness and isolation. While the most important benefits of touching may be beyond measurement, some can be observed and studied. The experience of being in an intensive care unit is a powerfully isolating one for many people because they spend much of their time alone. When a doctor or nurse or technician appears, the tubes and wires and machinery often become the focus of most of their time and attention” (Ornish, Love and Survival, p. 70).
Ornish goes on to cite a series of studies in intensive care units by Dr. James Lynch and his colleagues, who studied men and women who had significant irregular heartbeats called ventricular arrhythmias and were under constant monitoring in the coronary care unit. “They found that a significant reduction in irregular heartbeats occurred when the nurse or doctor touched the patients to take their pulse. In some of these patients, pulse taking had the power to completely suppress irregular heartbeats that had previously been occurring.” Dr. Lynch has written a book about this entitled, The Broken Heart: The Medical Consequences of Loneliness. Lynch says “reflected in our hearts there is a biological basis for our need to form loving human relationships. If we fail to fulfill that need, our health is in peril" (Lynch, cited by Ornish, Love and Survival, p. 70).
As the phone company use to say, “Reach out and touch someone.” Do more than shake hands. Hug. Touch someone on the shoulder. Pat people on the back—literally!
Obviously, all of this needs to be done selectively and with sensitivity; but with those we know, our family, close friend, and, in some cases, people we just meet, we need to touch them. It heals—them and us.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 2/26/2009