Healing: A Touch of Love - Part 1
Scriptures: Ephesians 4:32-5:2; Luke 13:10-17
Introduction
“Years ago some of England’s orphanages ran an experiment. One director made it the duty of the nurses in charge to make sure each baby was held at least 30 minutes a day. Amazingly, as this directive was carried out, many babies and children who were ill made a significant recovery. It was further learned that babies who are not touched get sick and sometimes even die. Are babies the only ones who benefit so remarkably from touching? Or do we all enjoy being touched and find it wonderful therapy?”
Quoted from “A Touch of Love” by Eric Kreye
We have talked previously about what it means to walk in love. I told you that love was an action, meaning that in order to exhibit it, you must do something. When you read the Scriptures you find that everything that Jesus did pertained to love. He was sent to us because of love. All of His actions on earth were motivated by love. Often we read in the Scriptures when Jesus exhibited love, He touched the person he was focusing in on. As you know from what I just read, a touch can bring about a whole lot of changes in a person’s life. Because Jesus represented love, we as Christians being His representatives here on earth must operate with love as our foundation. This morning I want to focus your attention on the subject “Healing – A Touch of Love.”
Even though Jesus has purchased our complete redemption from Satan’s kingdom, Satan has a way of trying to make us feel as if we still belong to him. He brings us into situations that confuse us and gets our focus off of the deliverance that now belongs to us as sons and daughters of God. Why do I say “confuse us”? Our born again spirits (which overflow with love) want to respond to those situations one way while our souls (our minds and flesh which often does not operate in love) want to respond in a different way. This morning I want to focus on how Christians are often blind to the needs of other members of the body of Christ due to our being so focused on our own needs. And because of this, when we come under attack both physically and emotionally, from a spiritual perspective, they often go unchallenged. We’re going to examine how Jesus dealt with one of Satan’s attacks that had gone unchallenged for 18 years. We’ll see how He put Satan on notice by showing those present at the church service that day what it meant to belong to His Father. Next week we will look at how the religious leaders responded to Jesus healing the woman.
One thing you must grasp in this message is that responding to the needs of others is an expectation of all Christians. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:32-5:2 “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” The Greek word for “kind” means to “furnish what is needed”. This goes way beyond just meeting someone’s material needs as we often think of this, but it also includes meeting those needs that cannot be “purchased” in a store. Turn with me to Luke chapter 13. Today we will focus on verses 10 thru 13.
I. Jesus Touch and Heals a Woman
Verses 10 & 11: “And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who for eighteen years had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all.”
Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath teaching. During the service, a woman who was crippled entered. The scripture does not tell us how old this woman was but only that she had been in this condition for eighteen years. Her description suggests that the bones of her spine were rigidly fused together. Although she had been coming to the church for years, no one had reached out to her to pray for her healing. The Amplified bible describes her condition as “bent completely forward and utterly unable to straighten herself up or to look forward.” This woman had a spirit of infirmity which means “a weakness in the body caused by a demon.” The woman was bent over with her face nearly level with her knees. Every time this woman walked into the synagogue, she reminded the congregation how utterly powerless they were and how utterly powerless the religious leaders were. No one even considered that her condition could be changed. For 18 years she came to the services needing to be healed. For 18 years she left the synagogue needing to be healed. Everyone had resigned themselves to the fact that this was the way it was, she would never be healed. For 18 years Satan had deceived the congregation and the religious leaders into believing that there was nothing that could be done for her. I can hear Satan saying “I’m the real power here – not God!” Now get this … no one expected things to change for this woman or for themselves. Every Sabbath the people came expecting nothing and every Sabbath they received nothing. They came to fulfill their religious obligation, their religious duty.
For many Christians it is the same way today. We come to Church expecting nothing week after week. Yes, we go up for prayer when it’s made available, but often to make us feel better while at the same time not really expecting God to change our situation. We do all of the “right things” during Church service, but to say we truly expect God to do something in our lives that’s something all together different. When we live our lives like this – figuratively and practically – Satan owns us. You might even say he’s stolen us back from our Father by getting us to think the way he wants us to think. We act based on how we think. If I think I am powerless, then I am. Do you remember the Star Wars movie when Luke Skywalker went to find Yoda? Remember when he landed in swamp and his ship started to sink? After he started his training, the time came for him to “use the force” to raise his ship out of the swamp. He tried and tried and could not do it. Finally, Yoda took over and raised the ship out of the water. Luke looked at Yoda and said something to the point that he could not believe it. Yoda responded to Luke by saying “that’s why you could not do it.” When Satan gets you to believe that you are powerless, then you are. And when this happens, Satan looks at Jesus and says “You went through all that for nothing. I still own them.” Now let that sink in. Look at verse 12.
Verse 12: “When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, ‘Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”
Notice the first thing Jesus does is see her. He SAW the woman. The woman had been coming to the synagogue for 18 years and people no longer noticed her condition. “Sister So and So, how are you today? Seems like you’re moving a little better this morning? Let me help you find a seat.” Satan had dulled their sense of compassion. He had stolen their hearts. Can you imagine what went through the minds of the people as Jesus fixed his eyes on her? Can you imagine the silence? Jesus had begun to teach and then suddenly, he stopped. Everyone in the synagogue turned around to see who he was looking at. Even the woman probably paused not knowing she was the center of attention. Imagine how she felt when she found out she was. The next thing Jesus does is “call her out.” He SPOKE to her. Get this picture. The woman is making her way into the synagogue. She’s slowly and deliberately making her way up the aisle. As she passes one of the pews, she hears Jesus call to her: “You there, the lady in the aisle who is bent over.” The woman stops. Jesus says, “Yes, I’m talking to you.” She couldn’t look up to see who it was calling her. Imagine what’s going through her mind? “Who is this calling me?” “Why is he calling me?” “Did I interrupt his teaching?” “What does he want?” You see, not only had Satan stolen her physical wholeness, but after 18 years, he had stolen any hope she had of ever being able to walk normally again.
When Jesus publicly announced the beginning of His ministry in Luke 4:18, one of the things He said He came to do was “to set at liberty them that are bruised. The word bruised means “to crush the strength of someone.” In this record in Luke 13, the woman with the spirit of infirmity has certainly had her strength crushed – physically, mentally and emotionally. First John 3:8 says that the “Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.” Destroy means “to loose or set free.” Here in Luke 13 Jesus was doing what He came to earth to do – to free this woman from the bondage Satan had put her in. Acts 10:38 says “God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and with power and He went about doing good and healing all those that were oppressed [overpowered] by the devil, for God was with Him.”
The Amplified bible says “…He went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of ] the devil, for God was with Him.” As He did with this woman, Satan tries to overpower us mentally, physically, and emotionally. Each time he gets us to focus on the bondage he has us in rather than the redemption that we have through the blood of Jesus, he has figuratively and, for all practical purposes, stolen us back. Jesus was the only one who SAW this woman and who knew what her true condition should be. And when He SAW her, He simply gave her what was already hers “by covenant.” Healing. The same is true for us today. Until we SEE people, we won’t be able to give them what is rightfully theirs as part of their inheritance. Until we see people, Satan looks at Jesus and says, “See how they’re so wrapped up in their own problems, they don’t even see the needs of their brothers and sisters. So you see Jesus, you went through all of that for nothing.”
When you look up the definition of the word “see” you find this: “to get knowledge through the eyes; to understand; to experience; to encounter.” To “see” someone is more than just taking note of what they look like or their form. To really see someone you will gain knowledge about them, you will understand, experience and encounter them. This is what Jesus did with this woman when He saw her, He experienced what she was going through and He decided to give her what belonged to her. One other point, the fact that Jesus SAW the woman implies he was looking for an opportunity to demonstrate his Father’s love and compassion. How about you? Do you look for opportunities to demonstrate God’s love and compassion? Or do you act like the members of the synagogue and not see people around you who have needs?
Verse 13: “And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God.”
After Jesus SAW her and SPOKE to her, the third thing he did was TOUCH her. Through His touch, He let the woman know that He was with her – that He knew her, that He truly SAW her. He was making it clear that she was the focus of his attention. He was telling this woman that today is going to be very different from the Sabbaths she’d acknowledged in the past 18 years. But more importantly, through His words and touch, Jesus told her “I know you’re here. I love you. My Father loves you. You are important to my Father and to me. I want you to know this today.” When the woman was healed, who got the glory? God.
So many Christians go through life never really experiencing Jesus’ love, especially through the touch of other Christians. We become like the babies who die physical deaths due to a lack of love that comes through touching. The medical term for this in newborns is “Failure to Thrive”. Yes, we talk about Jesus’ love. We sing about it. We preach about it. But in reality, what we say and preach is an act of duty, not always based on true experiences. It’s what we’re supposed to say and preach. In fact, truth be told, sometimes we Christians are hypocrites. We really don’t have an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father. Think about it, who is really going to stand up and admit that they haven’t experienced Jesus’ love? We fake this all the time because it is what is expected by “those around us.” But when this happens, Satan looks at Jesus and says “You died for nothing. I still own them.”
We must help people come to know what it’s like to be loved by Jesus. And that can only happen when we love them. We demonstrate the Father’s love when we SEE people, TALK to them, and TOUCH them. You are here today to destroy the works of the devil. If you don’t believe that, then you’re a hypocrite. You’re just playing a role. You really don’t understand the Father’s heart. You really don’t understand how much He loves us. But, if you do believe you are here to destroy the works of the devil, when we see people hurting, we can do the same thing Jesus did. The next time you see someone hurting, walk over to that person, look at them, encourage them by speaking the word to them, and then give them the kind of hug that lets them know “you’ve just experienced a little bit of God’s love.”
Next Sunday I will conclude this message by looking at the response from the religious leaders. So many times we do not act for fear of reprisal from others. Although Jesus was faced with this threat in worse ways than we can imagine, He did not let that discourage Him from doing what He was sent here to do.
I also want you to know that this sermon, was written and preached by my brother Barry. I made some modifications to it based on how I was led to deliver this message to you. His original title was “We Are Loosed”. I thank my brother Barry for sharing this message with me so that I may be able to share it with you for it is very timely given what we are faced with on a daily basis in our Churches. May God bless and keep you.
