“Then a man suffering from a dreaded skin-disease came to Him, knelt down before Him, and said, ‘Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean’”. Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him. “I do want to,” He answered. “Be clean!” At once the man was healed of his disease. Matthew 8:2-3.
Some people brought Him a man who was deaf and could hardly speak, and they begged Jesus to place His hands on him. So Jesus took him off alone, away from the crowd, put His fingers in the man’s ears, spat, and touched the man’s tongue. Then Jesus looked up to Heaven, gave a deep groan, and said to the man, ‘Ephphatha’, which means, ‘Open up’. At once the man was able to hear, and his speech impediment was removed, and he began to talk without any trouble. Mark 7:32-35.
Jesus was very powerful in the eyes of the people of the time. He healed the sick and raised the dead.
Yet, at all times, He maintained the common touch with the people.
His power was such that He could just think about it, and that would heal a person or raise him from the dead.
The woman who followed Him on the way to Jairus’ house only had to touch His cloak and she was healed. Luke 8:40.
When news came that Jairus’ daughter was dead, all that Jesus had to do was click His fingers and she would be raised. But He walked all the way to the house and there He performed His miracle.
Time and again, we see Him touching people, putting His hands upon tem, holding them up and being gentle with them.
Despite His powers of instant healing, if He wanted to, He did not forget the importance of gentleness, the importance of caring, and of loving people; showing and feeling compassion towards them, and making them feel worthy of His care and attention.
Many of us are in the caring professions; whether we are doctors, nurses, counselors, pastors or whatever. And yes … I know … life is very busy … and we have millions of things to do … just tell me about it !!!
But do we have the time to stop and think: This is a person I am dealing with; not just another case in a long line of other cases. They have feelings, fears and hopes. Let me share some kindness as I do my work.
As for the rest of us, the same message applies. The fact that we don’t work in these types of jobs doesn’t mean we can switch off our kindness dispenser.
