Power of Touch

Matthew 8:1-4

The redemptive presence of Jesus brings a loving and healing touch to anyone in need. In this story, a leper kneels before Jesus asking for healing. As in many gospel stories the attitude of the broken one is that Jesus can if He will. There is a very real sense of unworthiness expressed in such a plea.

Having been followed down from the mountainside by a large crowd of people, Jesus was in full display before the masses. Once again, his presence became a blessing to one whose life had been void of blessing and filled with marring physical and emotional pain. Probably the greatest pain this leper had experienced was the isolation from relationships, especially human touch. Jesus showed his love first by touching the disfigured body. That alone brought much healing to the man’s soul. The touch of Jesus removed the pain and redeemed the man.

Are there people in the world that you avoid? Who are the “untouchables” that you encounter? Who is it that you don’t want to have too close to you? How far are you willing to go as God’s agent?

“Father, make me a person who is practicing Jesus’ redemptive presence through a loving and healing touch among the “untouchables” of our world. Break my heart with deep compassion.”

© Chuck Coward 2008

Core Reality

Matthew 7:13-23

The redemptive presence of Jesus changes who a person is, not just what a person does. The evangelical world has had a strong tendency to focus upon what people do to determine if they are righteous. But, in this passage, Jesus gives a very interesting twist. At the end of this Sermon from the Mount of Olives, Jesus begins to summarize the gist of His heart in all that has been said. He makes it clear that His expectations are not easy – “the gate is small and the road is narrow that leads to life and only a few find it.” The few who find life are good trees and capable of producing good fruit. Jesus goes on to explain, however, that good fruit is not as easily recognized as one might think.

What we think is good fruit, because of the “beauty” of the outside, might be rotten on the inside. To further explain, Jesus speaks of those who will come to him declaring they have done the activities that were prevalent in Jesus’ ministry. In essence, a person could say, “I did what Jesus did” believing that such activity will be considered, by God, to be good fruit. What was Jesus’ response to this idea? It is evil doing; rotten fruit. Why? Because your “being” is evil. Jesus is aiming at the heart of who we are – motivation, desires, aims, etc. If our actions, though good-looking, are not from a redemptive heart, they are rotten at the core.

Who are you…down deep? Why do you do what you do? Do you “serve God” for the praises of the people around you? Does your service to people express the heart of Jesus who “came to serve and not be served and to give his life…for many.”

“God, please don’t let me be a good Pharisee! I want to BE like Jesus, knowing that the “doing” will follow. I don’t want to be rotten at my core! Change me, as only you can, from the inside out.”

© Chuck Coward 2008