“Look at my hands and my feet.  It is I myself.  Touch me and see.” Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24

“Paradise is attained by touch.” Helen Keller

Fill in the blank:  “My heart was touched when . . . .”

There are many possibilities for that, as many as there are individuals reading this.   I’m wondering, is “When I touched Jesus, or when Jesus touched me” one of them? 

Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection.  He invited them to touch Him.  It made Him real.  In touching Him, their hearts were touched. The question is: Is the resurrection of Jesus real for you?  Does it touch you at a heart level? Or is it just a nice story?

If Jesus has touched you at a heart level, when, how and where did it happen?

I would like to suggest that we experience the resurrected Christ fully, and daily, by allowing Christ to touch our hearts. And how does He do that? Perhaps one of the best, and most overlooked ways, is through the tender, loving touch of another, be it literal or figurative.

My heart was touched repeatedly by the children in Cambodia.  My heart was touched this week when watching the children of Gaza who are dying of malnutrition.  My heart was touched while facilitating  a group for caregivers of people with cognitive impairment, listening to their heartache.  And my heart was touched on a visit with Kathi.

Kathi is one of the kindest and most gentle spirits that I know.  She is dying of cancer.  During our visit she gifted me with the Thomas Jefferson bible that had been given to her when she was eleven years old.  I had heard of Jefferson’s bible, but never seen it.  In case you’re not familiar, Jefferson edited out the Old Testament and Epistles, and only kept those parts of the Gospels that he considered to be the authentic words and works of Jesus.  Following is Jefferson’s description in a letter to John Adams:

“We must reduce our volume to the simple Evangelists; select even from them, the very words only of Jesus, pairing off the amphibologisms (structural and syntactical ambiguities) into which they have been led, by forgetting often, or not understanding, what had fallen from Him, by giving their own misconceptions as his dicta, and expressing unintelligibly for others what they had not understood themselves.  There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.  I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently His and which is as easily distinguished as diamonds in a dung hill.”

Thus, Jefferson’s bible consists of 46 pages comprised of the birth, life, teachings, and crucifixion of Jesus.  But guess what it doesn’t include?  The Resurrection!  Jefferson’s bible ends with the death of Jesus.  There is no resurrection for Jefferson.  Dare I say that this great man, author of The Declaration of Independence, and Third U.S.  president, was not personally touched by The Resurrection of Jesus?

It caused me to pause and wonder how true that is of many “Godly People” or “Good Christians.”  And to wonder if, at times, it’s been true of me.  Have I, in my quest for accomplishing more for God, or knowing more about God, missed the tender, gentle touch of the risen Christ, often-times conveyed in the touch of others?  And have I touched Jesus? What about you?  Was Jesus merely a teacher of good morals?  A miracle worker?  An enlightened human being?  Or was He, is He, real?  Does His resurrection touch you at a heart level?  And have you responded to His invitation to touch Him by touching others, in whom He lives, and dwells and has His being?

For the disciples the resurrection was, at first, a fable.  They were all “doubting Thomases.” But then Jesus appeared to them.  And they touched His heart.  And He touched theirs.  And their lives were changed.  The life of Jesus became theirs.  The kindness of Jesus became theirs. The love of Jesus became theirs.  The grace of Jesus became theirs.  The forgiveness of Jesus became theirs.  And as a result they touched the lives of others with the life of Christ.  In turn those whose hearts and lives were touched by the resurrection touched others.  And so on and so forth, to the present day, when we have been touched, and can take our turn in touching, and being touched, by others.

“Of all the gifts we can give to people, the gift of our touch is one of the most priceless.  Through our hands we convey a kind of radiance.  A warmth seeps out from our inner fire, a wrap for someone’s chill, a light for another’s dark.” Jan Phillips in “Divining the Body.”