Daring to Touch
Sermon
Facing the Future with Hope
Cycle B Gospel Text Sermons for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany
Object:
Sam Keen in his book, To a Dancing God, tells of accidentally tripping over a rock one day while working at his summer farm in Maine. He began talking to the rock and the rock talked back. The dialogue went something like this:
Keen: "… Why did you trip me?" Rock: "I didn't trip you. I'm just lying here in my space conversing with the sky and the ground and you come up and kick me." Keen: "Well, never mind that. I see now that you are just about the right shape and size for a wall I am building." Rock: "First you accuse me of abusing you, but now it is clear that you are the aggressor who is lacking in regard for me. You still haven't seen me. All you can see is a use to which I may be put. Why don't you exercise your facility of wonder for a moment?" Keen: "I suppose I could try. What would you like me to do?" Rock: "Look at the nuances of color in me for a beginning. Then you might notice the gracefulness of my form (far too fine to be hidden in a wall). Finally, if you can muster sufficient imagination, run your hands fondly over me and feel my massed energy and at least ask yourself the fantastic question of what my reality is like from the inside. Well -- what do you think? You seem rather silent." Keen: "When I take the time to look at you from different perspectives to welcome your strangeness into my consciousness I am both rewarded and confused. I see your beauty now and not merely your usefulness.
But I still have a wall to build. Any suggestions?" Rock: "No, I don't know how you can solve your dilemma of both reverencing and utilizing, but I know that once you have welcomed me into your awareness you will not be so simple-minded as to suppose rocks and trees exist only to trip you or as raw materials for construction of walls and houses. Next time you come this way you might even look to keep from disturbing my rest."1
Admittedly, not all rocks talk like that, but occasionally you will stumble over a "philosophical" rock that will answer back.
If rocks respond in such a manner, how much more do human beings feel slighted and misused when we do not recognize their intrinsic worth or see them only in a utilitarian way -- how we use them to satisfy our own selfish ends. Are we aware of others? Do we see them? Do we touch them? Does our life really touch others around us in a significant way?
Of course, we should say at the outset that not all touching is good. We cannot touch fire without getting hurt. There also is insincere touching. We cannot violate sacred human relationships of other people by touching them inappropriately. We have all read enough about child abuse and spousal abuse to know what we mean. We can abuse our capacity to touch but by and large life is made for touching.
The next significant encounter Mark mentions in Jesus' movement around Galilee is with a leper who comes to him, kneels down, and begs him, "If you choose, you can make me clean" (Mark 1:40).
The leper was an outcast in society. We are not certain about the details of this man's condition. By Jesus' time all kinds of skin diseases were often grouped together under the heading of leprosy. Whatever the specifics might be such a skin disease rendered the person unclean in the presence of others. A person in this condition was separated from society and when he did appear he had to warn others to get out of the way. He was shunned from the rest of human contact.
The leper's words show an element of trust in Jesus even though the words may not represent a full knowledge of faith in Jesus as the Messiah. At least the leper believed that Jesus could heal him.
Jesus' response is worth noting too. Mark records, "Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I do choose. Be made clean!' " Jesus' compassion reached out to this unfortunate human being not only with words but he "touched him" -- he touched the untouchable.
Some New Testament scholars have pointed out that some Greek manuscripts, not the earliest ones, read that Jesus was moved with "anger" not "pity." If "anger" is the proper translation then according to Lamar Williamson Jr., it might mean: "The healing of the leper is then an example of Jesus' aggressive action against all that is unclean and destructive."2
Most interpreters of this passage agree that "pity" or "compassion" is the more accurate meaning of Jesus' words, and it certainly harmonizes with the totality of Jesus' healing ministry.
After Jesus spoke the affirming words to the leper, we have one of Mark's favorite words "immediately." "Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean" (Mark 1:42). Then we have Jesus' stern orders that he tell no one else about what has happened but go directly to the priest for the ceremonial ritual of cleansing. In so doing, the man made well by Jesus could now re-enter society. The book of Leviticus, chapters 13-14, in the Hebrew Bible spells out the details of this ritual.
Mark often has Jesus saying after a miracle has occurred that the person or persons involved should not spread the word around. Many people are mystified by this command. In the gospel of Mark Jesus is portrayed as the "Hidden Messiah." Why? Could it be with so many erroneous views of the Messiah floating around at this time that Jesus did not want to confuse the masses who came to hear him? He was waiting for the opportune time to declare that he was the Messiah. The time was not now.
Nonetheless, the healed leper did the opposite of what Jesus told him to do, and he went out and told everyone what had happened. The result was that Jesus could no longer enter towns because of the crowds. He was forced to stay in the countryside. Even there people flocked to find him.
It should be noted in passing that Jesus never used his healing to call attention to himself. His teaching and healing ministry were done to call attention to the fact that the kingdom of God had arrived.
Those who saw these signs were invited to enter the kingdom.
Jesus has demonstrated for us the tremendous power of touch. Many doctors and nurses have been inspired to enter the medical profession exhibiting similar compassion in treating patients, even sometimes at the risk of their own lives. For all of us, the call is not to be afraid of the "untouchables" in our own day (the outcasts whoever they may be). If we are Jesus' disciples we too will reach out and identify and seek to rectify the wrongs being done to so many people in our present society.
Sociologist James B. Stockinger shares this reflection on touch:
Each of us lives in and through an immense movement of the hands of other people. The hands of other people grow the food we eat, weave the clothes we wear, and build the shelters we inhabit. The hands of other people give pleasure to our bodies in moments of passion and aid and comfort in times of affliction and distress. It is in and through the hands of other people that the commonwealth of nature is appropriated and accommodated to the needs and pleasures of our separate individual lives, and, at the end, it is the hands of other people that lower us into the earth.3
In a sense, we receive ourselves as a gift from the hands of others.
I heard of a young man who decided he wanted to learn how to better relate to others. He went into a bookstore and at first was hard pressed to find anything to help him. Finally, he came upon a book that seemed to be helpful. It was titled, How to Hug. When he returned home, unfortunately, he found that he had bought Volume 9 of an encyclopedia.
There is good reading around today to help us to express ourselves more intimately with others. Life indeed is made for touching. Robert Corin Morris tells of an exercise he has used with lay pastoral calling groups. He calls it "the deepening touch," and he explains:
First, we practiced reaching out and taking a person's hand in an ordinary, casual way holding it for a half-minute. Then we practiced "deepening" the touch. People were directed to take a few moments to feel the aliveness in their own hand, and to awaken a sense of intentional caring. Then, with "awakened" hearts and hands, they reached out to hold the other person's hand.4
The difference that was made by conscious awareness and intention surprised the group members and they felt more "connected" to the other person and even felt that God was in their midst.
I believe people come to worship today because they want an encounter with Jesus. They want to be touched by him, to really experience him. They want to be changed and transformed by him, even as the leper was in Mark's story.
As we all know, numerous churches are celebrating Holy Communion more often than before. As we participate in the Eucharist we not only hear the word of God proclaimed, but we have the opportunity to touch and handle "things unseen" as the hymn writer puts it.
In our particular congregation every board and committee meeting ends with the group holding hands and repeating the Mizpah benediction: "The Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from the another." It is the touch of genuine fellowship. Also, not a few churches close their worship services with all the people holding hands and saying an appropriate prayer or singing a fitting song.
Recently, I had the privilege and great joy of attending an ordination service of a close friend. One of the high points in the service for me was when it came time for the ordination itself and the laying on of hands with prayer. Ministers of the word in the congregation as well as those ministers who led the service were called up to participate in the laying on of hands. This was a singular moment for me because I had worked closely with the young man to be ordained from the very beginning when we first sensed God might be calling him to prepare for Christian ministry. We all touched him praying that the Holy Spirit would indeed empower him to preach the word, administer the sacraments, and exercise the responsibilities of pastor and teacher.
What followed also involved touching as not only the senior pastor and the mother of the newly ordained minister but practically everyone present enthusiastically and joyfully hugged the young man. It was a happy celebration from beginning to end!
When I was a young boy I was playing touch football out in the street in front of my house one relatively warm December Sunday afternoon. Our play suddenly was interrupted by someone shouting out the door, "The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor!"
Most of us didn't know very much about Pearl Harbor. We soon learned it was in Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, a territory of the United States. We became aware of the fact that almost the entire American naval fleet had been destroyed that day. Soon we were at war.
World War II had begun for America, even as it had begun earlier for our soon-to-become Allies in Europe.
Since that time I have read a great deal about Pearl Harbor and World War II, and I have seen numerous movies about the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt said would live in infamy. I thought I had a pretty good grasp of what happened at that time, but it wasn't until a few years ago when my wife and I visited Pearl Harbor while vacationing in Hawaii that I really sensed it in a more visceral way.
Daily more than 4,000 people stand in line waiting to be taken in a small group by a craft that slowly makes its way out to the Pearl Harbor Memorial in the harbor. Few people speak during the trip. When you arrive at the Memorial itself and begin to walk from one end to the other, you notice at the center the floor dips. You can feel it and you come to understand that this sensation marks the low point in World War II and then the floor rises at the end to symbolize the ultimate victory in the war.
The Memorial is a 184-foot concrete structure that straddles the midsection of the USS Arizona where most of the 1,177 crewmen who died aboard the ship that fateful day are still entombed. As you look down at the sunken ship with some turrets protruding from the water you have an eerie feeling. When you come to the far end of the Memorial a white marble wall contains the names of the victims of this tragedy. You can reach up and touch the name of your loved one, if you wish. No one can spend even a little time at this Memorial without being profoundly touched.
We might add that the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC designed by the Yale University student Maya Ying Lin has had a similar effect upon all who have visited it. At first, many veteran groups criticized the memorial, but in time as more and more Vietnam veterans came to pay their respects to see the names of their comrades and touch their names, they were emotionally moved in a way they never expected. Today the memorial has become America's version of the "wailing wall." This memorial probably has done more to heal the oozing wounds of the Vietnam War than any other single thing.
Jesus touched people and made them whole. We too can bring healing by our touch. When we offer a warm handshake, or give someone a hug, we express our concern in a way that words can never do. There are many lonely and hurting people all around us who yearn for a loving touch. Let us look for an opening to meet their deepest needs. Amen.
__________
1. Sam Keen, To a Dancing God (New York: Harper & Row, 1970), 28-29.
2. Lamar Williamson Jr., Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1983), 59.
3. James B. Stockinger, University of California Ph.D. dissertation, "Locke and Rousseau: Human Nature, Human Citizenship and Human Work," as printed in Robert Neely Bellah, et al., The Good Society (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991), 104.
4. Robert Corin Morris, Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2003), 49.
Keen: "… Why did you trip me?" Rock: "I didn't trip you. I'm just lying here in my space conversing with the sky and the ground and you come up and kick me." Keen: "Well, never mind that. I see now that you are just about the right shape and size for a wall I am building." Rock: "First you accuse me of abusing you, but now it is clear that you are the aggressor who is lacking in regard for me. You still haven't seen me. All you can see is a use to which I may be put. Why don't you exercise your facility of wonder for a moment?" Keen: "I suppose I could try. What would you like me to do?" Rock: "Look at the nuances of color in me for a beginning. Then you might notice the gracefulness of my form (far too fine to be hidden in a wall). Finally, if you can muster sufficient imagination, run your hands fondly over me and feel my massed energy and at least ask yourself the fantastic question of what my reality is like from the inside. Well -- what do you think? You seem rather silent." Keen: "When I take the time to look at you from different perspectives to welcome your strangeness into my consciousness I am both rewarded and confused. I see your beauty now and not merely your usefulness.
But I still have a wall to build. Any suggestions?" Rock: "No, I don't know how you can solve your dilemma of both reverencing and utilizing, but I know that once you have welcomed me into your awareness you will not be so simple-minded as to suppose rocks and trees exist only to trip you or as raw materials for construction of walls and houses. Next time you come this way you might even look to keep from disturbing my rest."1
Admittedly, not all rocks talk like that, but occasionally you will stumble over a "philosophical" rock that will answer back.
If rocks respond in such a manner, how much more do human beings feel slighted and misused when we do not recognize their intrinsic worth or see them only in a utilitarian way -- how we use them to satisfy our own selfish ends. Are we aware of others? Do we see them? Do we touch them? Does our life really touch others around us in a significant way?
Of course, we should say at the outset that not all touching is good. We cannot touch fire without getting hurt. There also is insincere touching. We cannot violate sacred human relationships of other people by touching them inappropriately. We have all read enough about child abuse and spousal abuse to know what we mean. We can abuse our capacity to touch but by and large life is made for touching.
The next significant encounter Mark mentions in Jesus' movement around Galilee is with a leper who comes to him, kneels down, and begs him, "If you choose, you can make me clean" (Mark 1:40).
The leper was an outcast in society. We are not certain about the details of this man's condition. By Jesus' time all kinds of skin diseases were often grouped together under the heading of leprosy. Whatever the specifics might be such a skin disease rendered the person unclean in the presence of others. A person in this condition was separated from society and when he did appear he had to warn others to get out of the way. He was shunned from the rest of human contact.
The leper's words show an element of trust in Jesus even though the words may not represent a full knowledge of faith in Jesus as the Messiah. At least the leper believed that Jesus could heal him.
Jesus' response is worth noting too. Mark records, "Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I do choose. Be made clean!' " Jesus' compassion reached out to this unfortunate human being not only with words but he "touched him" -- he touched the untouchable.
Some New Testament scholars have pointed out that some Greek manuscripts, not the earliest ones, read that Jesus was moved with "anger" not "pity." If "anger" is the proper translation then according to Lamar Williamson Jr., it might mean: "The healing of the leper is then an example of Jesus' aggressive action against all that is unclean and destructive."2
Most interpreters of this passage agree that "pity" or "compassion" is the more accurate meaning of Jesus' words, and it certainly harmonizes with the totality of Jesus' healing ministry.
After Jesus spoke the affirming words to the leper, we have one of Mark's favorite words "immediately." "Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean" (Mark 1:42). Then we have Jesus' stern orders that he tell no one else about what has happened but go directly to the priest for the ceremonial ritual of cleansing. In so doing, the man made well by Jesus could now re-enter society. The book of Leviticus, chapters 13-14, in the Hebrew Bible spells out the details of this ritual.
Mark often has Jesus saying after a miracle has occurred that the person or persons involved should not spread the word around. Many people are mystified by this command. In the gospel of Mark Jesus is portrayed as the "Hidden Messiah." Why? Could it be with so many erroneous views of the Messiah floating around at this time that Jesus did not want to confuse the masses who came to hear him? He was waiting for the opportune time to declare that he was the Messiah. The time was not now.
Nonetheless, the healed leper did the opposite of what Jesus told him to do, and he went out and told everyone what had happened. The result was that Jesus could no longer enter towns because of the crowds. He was forced to stay in the countryside. Even there people flocked to find him.
It should be noted in passing that Jesus never used his healing to call attention to himself. His teaching and healing ministry were done to call attention to the fact that the kingdom of God had arrived.
Those who saw these signs were invited to enter the kingdom.
Jesus has demonstrated for us the tremendous power of touch. Many doctors and nurses have been inspired to enter the medical profession exhibiting similar compassion in treating patients, even sometimes at the risk of their own lives. For all of us, the call is not to be afraid of the "untouchables" in our own day (the outcasts whoever they may be). If we are Jesus' disciples we too will reach out and identify and seek to rectify the wrongs being done to so many people in our present society.
Sociologist James B. Stockinger shares this reflection on touch:
Each of us lives in and through an immense movement of the hands of other people. The hands of other people grow the food we eat, weave the clothes we wear, and build the shelters we inhabit. The hands of other people give pleasure to our bodies in moments of passion and aid and comfort in times of affliction and distress. It is in and through the hands of other people that the commonwealth of nature is appropriated and accommodated to the needs and pleasures of our separate individual lives, and, at the end, it is the hands of other people that lower us into the earth.3
In a sense, we receive ourselves as a gift from the hands of others.
I heard of a young man who decided he wanted to learn how to better relate to others. He went into a bookstore and at first was hard pressed to find anything to help him. Finally, he came upon a book that seemed to be helpful. It was titled, How to Hug. When he returned home, unfortunately, he found that he had bought Volume 9 of an encyclopedia.
There is good reading around today to help us to express ourselves more intimately with others. Life indeed is made for touching. Robert Corin Morris tells of an exercise he has used with lay pastoral calling groups. He calls it "the deepening touch," and he explains:
First, we practiced reaching out and taking a person's hand in an ordinary, casual way holding it for a half-minute. Then we practiced "deepening" the touch. People were directed to take a few moments to feel the aliveness in their own hand, and to awaken a sense of intentional caring. Then, with "awakened" hearts and hands, they reached out to hold the other person's hand.4
The difference that was made by conscious awareness and intention surprised the group members and they felt more "connected" to the other person and even felt that God was in their midst.
I believe people come to worship today because they want an encounter with Jesus. They want to be touched by him, to really experience him. They want to be changed and transformed by him, even as the leper was in Mark's story.
As we all know, numerous churches are celebrating Holy Communion more often than before. As we participate in the Eucharist we not only hear the word of God proclaimed, but we have the opportunity to touch and handle "things unseen" as the hymn writer puts it.
In our particular congregation every board and committee meeting ends with the group holding hands and repeating the Mizpah benediction: "The Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from the another." It is the touch of genuine fellowship. Also, not a few churches close their worship services with all the people holding hands and saying an appropriate prayer or singing a fitting song.
Recently, I had the privilege and great joy of attending an ordination service of a close friend. One of the high points in the service for me was when it came time for the ordination itself and the laying on of hands with prayer. Ministers of the word in the congregation as well as those ministers who led the service were called up to participate in the laying on of hands. This was a singular moment for me because I had worked closely with the young man to be ordained from the very beginning when we first sensed God might be calling him to prepare for Christian ministry. We all touched him praying that the Holy Spirit would indeed empower him to preach the word, administer the sacraments, and exercise the responsibilities of pastor and teacher.
What followed also involved touching as not only the senior pastor and the mother of the newly ordained minister but practically everyone present enthusiastically and joyfully hugged the young man. It was a happy celebration from beginning to end!
When I was a young boy I was playing touch football out in the street in front of my house one relatively warm December Sunday afternoon. Our play suddenly was interrupted by someone shouting out the door, "The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor!"
Most of us didn't know very much about Pearl Harbor. We soon learned it was in Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, a territory of the United States. We became aware of the fact that almost the entire American naval fleet had been destroyed that day. Soon we were at war.
World War II had begun for America, even as it had begun earlier for our soon-to-become Allies in Europe.
Since that time I have read a great deal about Pearl Harbor and World War II, and I have seen numerous movies about the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt said would live in infamy. I thought I had a pretty good grasp of what happened at that time, but it wasn't until a few years ago when my wife and I visited Pearl Harbor while vacationing in Hawaii that I really sensed it in a more visceral way.
Daily more than 4,000 people stand in line waiting to be taken in a small group by a craft that slowly makes its way out to the Pearl Harbor Memorial in the harbor. Few people speak during the trip. When you arrive at the Memorial itself and begin to walk from one end to the other, you notice at the center the floor dips. You can feel it and you come to understand that this sensation marks the low point in World War II and then the floor rises at the end to symbolize the ultimate victory in the war.
The Memorial is a 184-foot concrete structure that straddles the midsection of the USS Arizona where most of the 1,177 crewmen who died aboard the ship that fateful day are still entombed. As you look down at the sunken ship with some turrets protruding from the water you have an eerie feeling. When you come to the far end of the Memorial a white marble wall contains the names of the victims of this tragedy. You can reach up and touch the name of your loved one, if you wish. No one can spend even a little time at this Memorial without being profoundly touched.
We might add that the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC designed by the Yale University student Maya Ying Lin has had a similar effect upon all who have visited it. At first, many veteran groups criticized the memorial, but in time as more and more Vietnam veterans came to pay their respects to see the names of their comrades and touch their names, they were emotionally moved in a way they never expected. Today the memorial has become America's version of the "wailing wall." This memorial probably has done more to heal the oozing wounds of the Vietnam War than any other single thing.
Jesus touched people and made them whole. We too can bring healing by our touch. When we offer a warm handshake, or give someone a hug, we express our concern in a way that words can never do. There are many lonely and hurting people all around us who yearn for a loving touch. Let us look for an opening to meet their deepest needs. Amen.
__________
1. Sam Keen, To a Dancing God (New York: Harper & Row, 1970), 28-29.
2. Lamar Williamson Jr., Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1983), 59.
3. James B. Stockinger, University of California Ph.D. dissertation, "Locke and Rousseau: Human Nature, Human Citizenship and Human Work," as printed in Robert Neely Bellah, et al., The Good Society (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991), 104.
4. Robert Corin Morris, Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2003), 49.
