The Rev. Charleston Wilson
In the Name of the Living God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Over the course of the summer, as I’ve read the appointed Scriptures each day, I have noticed a common theme that I have never noticed before. And what I’ve noticed (perhaps you have, too) is how often Jesus is touching people – literally touching them with His hands.
Today, St. Luke puts it this way:
And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.
St Luke is clear: He touched her, she was healed, and she began praising God.
Now, I can’t speak for you, but I have to say that this touchy-feely Jesus is a bit much for me. At a rather simple, sort of base, level, it’s a bit much because the older I get, the less of a touchy-feely guy I’m becoming (or so I’m told). Hugs can be awkward. Long handshakes basically scare me. And so on.
I’m also turning into a nascent germaphobe, which doesn’t help things. Don’t take it personally, but the very first thing I do after I shake hands with all of you after mass is sneak off into the bathroom and scrub my hands and arms like a surgeon.
Yet, on the other hand, I have to touch you, and it’s a privilege to touch you, because that’s when the connection occurs; that’s when the relationship is cemented, if you will, and given renewed life and health. Touch is essential in any relationship.
The same thing happens, by the way, when we exchange the sign of peace. We’re not just saying howdy to be cordial to our neighbour in a sort of Emily Post way.
We’re extending a hand – we’re literally touching another human being – in order to make the profound outward and visible sign of the profound inward and spiritual reality that God has reconciled us to Himself, so we, therefore, can be reconciled one to another. And that is proclaimed or ratified, if you like, through the simple, but tangible act of touch – the touch of peace.
The fact that Jesus is always literally touching people is also a bit much for me on another level – on an emotional and rather humbling spiritual level – because it shows me just how far God will go to be in a relationship with His beloved creation, with you and with me.
Think about. It would be all too easy not to touch. After all, God is God, and, surely Jesus Christ, God incarnate, could have healed people without touching them.
But, he didn’t. But, he didn’t.
He touched them. He touched her.
And touch is powerful. And touch is powerful.
Do you remember the first time you mustered up enough courage to reach out and touch the hand of the one you had that crush on in the 8th grade? The butterflies were going wild in your stomach and it was almost overwhelming. Why? Because touch is powerful.
Or what about that photograph taken of Diana Spencer, sometime Princess of Wales, in the 90s, when she was holding the hand of a little child with AIDS? It caused a media sensation that a princess would touch someone with AIDS. Why? Because touch is powerful.
In the 1980s, the Scientific American did a huge research project involving Romanian orphanages. The University of Wisconsin published it 2005. They found that infants who weren’t touched regularly, and were left alone for long periods, were at a higher risk for behavioral, emotional and social problems as they grew up. They found, furthermore, that touch helps calm babies: they cry less and it helps them sleep better. Why? Because touch is powerful.
And, “He laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.” Why? Because touch is powerful.
This week almost 200 children (and almost that many volunteers) have experienced the best Vacation Bible School in the Anglican Communion. I’ve loved watching the faces of the little children beaming with joy, at 8:30 in the morning no less, as they come running into this space to sing and to explore these windows – these “Windows to Jesus,” as the week was brilliantly themed.
But the best moments, for me at least, have been watching the children as they come rushing in and barreling down the centre aisle to greet one another and their shepherds with huge, love-filled hugs. Why? Because touch is powerful.
The Church – this parish – exists so that God, through Jesus Christ, can touch you with His love.
I don’t know if you know it or not, but there was an old law on the books in Medieval times, especially in England, called the “Law of Sanctuary,” and, basically, if you were being pursued by someone – rightly or wrongly – and you ran into the church, touched a column or held onto a chair, you were granted basic clemency while matters were sorted out.
In fact, that’s what St. Thomas Beckett was trying to do in Canterbury Cathedral when his assailants rushed in, disobeying the law of sanctuary, and murdered him. Legally, however, he was protected from arrest while in the Cathedral. Legend says he was holding so tightly to the column that he had to have his arms cut off before he was turned loose. Believe it or not, the law of sanctuary was actually on the books until the nineteenth century in many European countries.
Although the law is long, long gone, I propose to you that the spirit of it can, should, and does live on today in Sarasota – right here in this parish.
I saw it on their faces this week as they rushed in here – in here to hold hands, to hug each other, to receive God’s love. Why? Because touch is powerful.
“When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.”
May I just ask you a personal question: have you been touched by God’s endless love through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord?
Let Him love you. Let Him make you whole. And then stand up and praise Him.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Charleston D. Wilson
The Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota, Florida
14th Sunday after Pentecost
21 August 2016