Sunday, February 19th 2006
Brandon Hatfield
He Touched Me
Good morning etc…
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to know Jesus? I don’t mean in the way that we do as Christians, but I mean as a person, what would it be like to just spend time and hang out with Jesus. I wonder what kinds of things he did for fun? I wonder if he had any hobbies? I wonder what his childhood friends were like? I wonder if Jesus ever had a burping contest with the disciples?
One thing that has always interested me is who Jesus hung out with. The people that he chose to surround himself with are kind of interesting. Prostitutes, tax collectors, diseased people, sinners and saints, everyone! It seems that Jesus often knew and spent time with all different types of people. There was one such person that Jesus talked with and I want us to spend our time this morning focusing on that story. If you have your Bibles, you may want to turn and hold your place at Matthew chapter 8. We will be taking our text from that chapter this morning.
In the previous chapters, Jesus had been preaching to a very large crowd, and he has just finished delivering one of the most famous sermons ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount. And the people were absolutely captivated by his message and they were hanging on his every word. In fact, they were so spell-bound by his message that they began following Jesus, just to see where he would go and what he would do.
And this is where we will pick up the story in Matthew 8:1 READ VERSES 1&2.
What I want you to notice about this passage so far is that there is a problem. A problem has been presented to Jesus.
Jesus came upon a leper. In those days, if you had leprosy, you didn’t necessarily have what we consider to be leprosy today. Leprosy was any kind of skin disease, it could be eczema or psoriasis or any discoloration of the skin. People with leprosy were outcasts of society. They couldn’t live in town, or even come into town, and no one would even come near them. In fact, they even had leper colonies, where all the lepers would live so they could be excluded from normal society. They were completely shunned by everyone and couldn’t live a normal life at all.
This man, had a serious case of leprosy. His disease was extremely contagious and would cause red dots and bumps to form all over his body. Eventually his flesh would begin to rot and literally fall off in thin flaky white scales. The disease would show on the outside of the body, but the real pain was on the inside. You see this form of leprosy would take root in the bones and marrow, causing the person indescribable misery and pain for years.
With such a contagious disease, it was no wonder that people wanted nothing to do with lepers, they didn’t want to run the risk of catching this horrible, painful disease that not only hurt you physically, but emotionally too since they were so rejected and cast out from society. This man and others with this disease were considered “Untouchable.” No one would go near them, no one would have anything to do with them, not their friends, family or anyone. They were complete and total outcasts.
This man has a problem! He comes to Jesus, knowing that He has the power to cure him of this disease. He has faith that Jesus can handle this problem in his life and heal him of his disease. It’s so awesome how God takes care of His children, even though sometimes we don’t have that much faith in Him. We think about situations and problems in our lives, and we aren’t sure whether they’re going to turn out good or bad. I really like the story of two fellas that were talking one day.
One said, “Hey did you hear what happened to George?”
No what? He fell out of an airplane. Oh, that’s too bad. No, he had a parachute on his back. Oh that’s good! No, the parachute wouldn’t open. Oh, that’s bad. No, there was a haystack underneath him. Oh, that’s good. No, there was a pitchfork in the haystack. Oh, that’s bad. No he missed the pitchfork. Oh, that’s good. No, he missed the haystack, too!
It’s hard to tell sometimes if what happens will turn out to be good or if it’s bad. The leper in this story had to have felt this way. He had faith that Jesus would heal him, but just as he says, “Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean.” It really shows that there was some fear that this could turn out good, or it can turn out bad.
But as I think about this story of the leper that was untouchable, I can’t help but think about people who are considered, “Untouchable” today. How comfortable would you be hugging a person with AIDS? How about a homosexual? How many of us would associate ourselves with someone who has been a prisoner? How about people of a different race? And what about the homeless, how many of us are comfortable showing love and concern to someone living on the street. What about the guy or girl that sits in the cafeteria alone, everyone says they’re different, How many of us could go and sit with them and be a friend to them?
The fact is, there are people in our world today that are considered by many as untouchable, outcasts. So I ask you, as people who call ourselves Christians and followers of Christ, what is our reaction to outcasts of today? Now be honest with yourselves, what would your real true reaction be to people that may seem untouchable, unlovable?
As we read farther in this scripture, we can clearly see Jesus’ reaction to the leper, this man who was an outcast and an untouchable person. It says in Matthew 8:3-4 READ.
What was Jesus reaction? Jesus reached out and touched him! He didn’t cure him from the other side of the room. He didn’t look at him with sorrow and say, “wow I’m really sorry to hear that, I wish there was something I could do.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched and healed him! He reached out with love and compassion and healed him.
I just bet that all the people who were around watching as Jesus reached out and touched deathly ill and contagious man were just astonished! I can just hear the gasps and the shock of the people as they watched him touch someone with that “condition.” Why would he do that? Why would he risk disease and misery, just for some leper?
Jesus tells the story of a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. In those days, it was extremely dangerous to make this journey by foot through the mountains. And as this man was traveling, he was stopped and mugged by thieves along the way. Does anyone know what story I’m talking about? (Wait for answer). The story of the Good Samaritan. Anyway, here this man is beaten, stripped naked of all his clothes and money, and left for dead.
He is left laying there in the gutter bloody, naked, gory, and untouchable. And along comes a priest, a man that is supposed to be the closest to God, and he crosses to the other side of the road. And then later comes a Levite, another supposedly Godly individual, and he too crosses to the other side of the road. The most righteous people crossed to the other side they removed themselves from the situation/acted like they never even saw him. But here comes this Samaritan who gets off his own donkey, picks the man up, puts him on his donkey, tends to his wounds with his bandages, and puts him up in an inn with his own money, and even comes to check on him and pays to make sure he’s taken care of.
Many times our reaction to the untouchable and unlovable is that of the so-called righteous people in that story. We may not necessarily say ew and turn away, but we pretend as though we have seen nothing, and remove ourselves from them. We turn away and remove ourselves from the situation entirely, and choose not to reach out to them.
I was flipping through the channels one day, and I stopped on this show called “Joy With Painting” starring Bob Ross. Anyone here ever seen that show? Yeah that’s the guy with the big afro, and he’ll be painting and make a comment like, “ok I’m just going to grab a little of this happy blue color and paint us a nice great big sky, then I’m going to get a little of this deep green, oh it just reminds me of taking a picnic, and I’m going to make us a nice big happy bush.”
But anyway I was watching Bob Ross paint a picture one day of this beautiful mountain scene. It had this big open sky and this nice grassy area with a cabin right in the middle of it. And I saw the picture and I thought it looked pretty good. In fact I thought he should stop right there and leave it alone. But then, I cringed as I saw him put this dark blob right on the canvas! And it looked awkward and out of place, and really just messed up the whole picture! But as he added more color and texture, I saw that it made this great big tree, and it looked perfect! It was exactly what the painting needed to be complete.
I was thinking about how we as Christians do that very same thing. God is the artist, painting our lives and we get to a place where we think, “Ok everything’s perfect, I don’t want anything to change.” And then God adds something more, he calls us to go into ministry, or missions. Maybe God calls us to do something or go somewhere we don’t want to go. Maybe he wants us to reach out to someone that is untouchable, and we think “No that’s going to mess up the picture!” I like it this way, I don’t want to get all uncomfortable! But as the picture takes shape, it’s perfect!
It is a frightening thing to think that we could let our own pride and selfishness to stand in the way of truly showing love and compassion to people who really need it. That’s what Jesus did. Jesus hung out with people that most of us would rather die than be associated with. But that’s what he did, and he was able to bridge the gap between God and man by showing unconditional love and compassion for all different types of people. Until we can humble ourselves, and love like that, we can’t even begin to show others what the love of Christ is like. We don’t have any right to call ourselves followers of Christ until we can let Him increase in our lives and make ourselves decrease.
We cannot be a witness for the Lord unless we are willing to put others above ourselves. It’s like the story of a group of college students who were touring the slums of an inner city. The group was walking along and one of the girls in the group saw a little girl playing in the dirt, and asked the guide, “Why doesn’t her mother clean her up” The tour guide replied, “That girls mother probably loves her, but she doesn’t hate dirt. You hate dirt, but you don’t love her enough to go down there and clean her up. Until someone hates the dirt and loves that child at the same time, she is going to stay dirty.” Until we can hate sin, and love the sinner, we can’t do anything to help those who are lost.
But if there is one thing that I want you to take out of this chapel this morning it is this: We are all like that man in the gutter. Stripped of our dignity, laying in our shame and sin and guilt, we’re untouchable. But Jesus, was our good Samaritan, he came down from Heaven into the muck and the mess of our world, and he got down and picked us up and cared for us and saved us. He served us.
It’s just like the old song says,
Shackled by a heavy burden, beneath a load of guilt and shame; Then the hand of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same. He touched me, O He touched me. And O the joy that floods my soul; Something happened, and now I know, He touched me and made me whole. Since I met this blessed Savior, Since He cleansed and made me whole; I will never cease to praise Him, I’ll shout it while eternity rolls. He touched me, O He touched me. And O the joy that floods my soul; Something happened, and now I know, He touched me and made me whole
Many thought that the messiah would come as a military leader, he would ride in on a white horse and slay all the evil nations and would rule over his kingdom with his mighty sword and his shiny armor and his royal robes, but instead he came as a baby, born in a barn, raised as a carpenter, and was a servant to all.
No matter how unlovable or untouchable a person may seem, that person is significant to God. Everyone matters to God! No matter how much better you may believe you are than another, you’re wrong. Christ came and pulled you out of the muck when you were untouchable.
So how can we make our lives count for Christ? How can anything that I do, or anything that you do be significant in the eyes of the creator of the universe? How can this puny, sinful life make any difference in the Kingdom of God? How can it count for Christ? Jesus tells us Himself in Matthew 22. He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
How do you make your life count for Christ? First you love God with every inch of your being. You have to be crazy for God. I heard the story of a Christian in the second century that was brought before a pagan ruler and told to renounce his faith. "If you don’t do it, I will banish you," threatened the king. The man smiled and answered, "You can’t banish me from Christ, for He says, ’I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ " To this the king angrily replied, "Then I will confiscate your property and take all your possessions." Again the man smiled and said, "My treasures are all laid up on high; you cannot get them." The king became furious and shouted, "I will kill you!" The man answered, "I have been dead forty years; I have been dead with Christ, dead to the world, and my life is hidden with Christ in God, and you cannot touch it." In desperation the king turned to his advisers and asked, "What can you do with a fanatic like that?"
Be a fanatic for the Lord. And secondly, love your neighbor. Reach out and share the love of Christ that is inside you with them. You’ve heard the expression that you are the only Jesus that some people will ever see. Leave here and love God and love those around you like Jesus. Don’t be afraid to touch the untouchable.
LET’ PRAY
