United Methodist Church Hyde Park, NY

THE MASTER’S TOUCH
Mark 1:40-45
Rev. Eileen Freeman

Before the coming of Jesus, one of the popular notions within Judaism was that the Messiah would come like a knight in shining armor on a white charger to slay all foes and set the chosen people upon the thrones of the world. Little wonder that in the coming of Jesus, whom many called the Messiah, there was considerable bewilderment and disappointment – because Jesus did not fit the picture that many had in mind. His method was not the predicted method at all; for instead of a knight came a quiet and humble lover of people. His style was a firm and gentle touch upon the bodies and souls of people.

The important thing for understanding Jesus’ ministry and our own, is that he touched them. He did not minister long distance, safe from all that plagued the lives of those he would help. His work of forgiving sinners brought him in contact with sinners; his work of lifting placed him among the fallen; his words of encouragement were given among the hopeless; his healing put him with the diseased. Jesus touched people, sometimes with his hands, sometimes only with his eyes or the tone of his voice. He touched them in a manner that enabled them to know that they really existed, that they really were somebody, that they were loved by God. With that new confidence, that new faith, they were made not only well, but also whole. Jesus’ touch was a transforming touch, bringing health to the sick, strength to the weak, direction to the lost, and light to darkened souls.

We want to know more about this Master’s touch, not only because of our own need to be touched like that (or perhaps our remembrance of having been touched like that), but because of our willingness to touch others in this way. For we are called not just to watch, but to follow. We are asked not just to like Jesus, but to be like Jesus. I believe one reason we gather in church week after week is not just to receive the Master’s touch, but to renew our willingness and ability to touch the way the Master touched.

This morning’s Gospel reading tells us about a leper who confronted Jesus. The physical effects of leprosy were devastating: repulsive sores and deformity. There was no known cure. Equally devastating were the social effects of the disease. Lepers were considered unclean, untouchable. They were completely cut off from society: separated from family, community, temple, and friends by their disease. Jesus’ reputation as a healer had been growing.  This leper came to Jesus and begged him on his knees: “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. Putting himself at risk, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” Jesus said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left the man and he was cured. Jesus had healed his body, but he had also touched him in a manner that enabled him to go from unclean to clean, exclusion to inclusion, brokenness to wholeness.

This is but one in a series of biblical accounts of Jesus’ touch on people – people ill or   wounded, people unsure of their worth, people guilty about their lives, people feeling out of touch with others and with reality and with God – people with all kinds of ailments. In the process of healing them, Jesus touched them and changed their lives. His touch had an effect much deeper than physical healing.

In a society that considered women to be second-class humans and whose men prayed “Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who hast not made me a woman,” the touch of Jesus disclosed that women mattered – even Samaritan women – and were no less the object of God’s love than the men themselves.

In a society that valued people for productivity and thus classified children as a burden or nuisance, Jesus lifted a child in the midst of a crowd and declared that children possessed the key to the kingdom of heaven.

In a society that despised quislings and tax collectors, Jesus picked the despicable little runt Zacchaeus out of a tree for his private dining companion; he tapped the shoulder of Matthew and said, “Follow me,” making him one of the first of the twelve disciples.

According to Mahatma Gandhi it was the Master’s touch that freed India. According to Martin Luther King, Jr., it was the Master’s touch that nonviolently broke the bonds of oppression and freed black and white alike in our country. According to Mother Teresa, it was the Master’s touch that enabled her to bestow a bit of human dignity upon thousands simply by walking among the poor and ill and dying in the gutters of Calcutta and touching them with human kindness.

It is that same touch upon a nation or a person that can bring total transformation to a situation or to a life today. We, as Christians, are called to imitate Jesus’ style and cultivate his touch. We begin with the offering of ourselves. If we open ourselves to the touch of Christ, we will become new creatures.

Myra Brooks Welch’s poem about the violin auctioneer expresses it well:

‘Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile:
“What am I bidden, good folks,” he cried,
“Who’ll start the bidding for me?”
“Two dollars and who’ll make it three?”
“Three dollars once, three dollars twice:
Going for three.” But no,
From the room far back, a gray haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
and tightening the loosened strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said, “What am I bid for the old violin?”
And he held it up with the bow.
“A thousand dollars.” “And who’ll make it two?
Two thousand. Who’ll make it three?”
“Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
and going and gone,” said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
“We do not understand what changed its worth.”
Swift came the reply:
“The touch of the Master’s hand.”

And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A “mess of pottage, a glass of wine,”
A game – and he travels on.
He is “going” once and “going” twice.
He’s “going” and almost “gone.”
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd
Can never quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought
By the touch of the Master’s hand.

We do not have to be down and out to need that touch. Pray God we may be so touched, and that we may then touch the world around us and help to make it well.