Lectionary Reflection for Proper 5A on Matthew 9:9–13, 18–26
This article was previously published as Chapter Three in my eBook, Building Bridges: A Liturgical and Devotional Guide for a Season of Spirit. With all that is happening in my life at the moment, I decided to post this chapter this week, rather than write a new article. I hope that’s ok. You can find more information about Building Bridges here.
OUR NEED FOR TOUCH
Touch is essential to human well-being, health and life. The lack of touch hurts on every level of our being, and regular, caring touch has multiple physiological, psychological, relational, and emotional benefits.
For example, a study conducted by the University of Miami’s Touch Research Institute focused on infants who were born prematurely and were experiencing delays in their development. The researchers found that when the infants were given daily massages by their parents, they experienced significant improvements in their cognitive and motor skills.1 The infants who received massages gained weight faster, had stronger immune systems, and were more active than the infants who did not receive massages.
In addition to these physical benefits, the infants who received massages also showed improved emotional well-being. They cried less, slept better, and were more relaxed overall. The study’s lead researcher, Tiffany Field, stated, “We know that touch is a form of communication, and it communicates emotions, both positive and negative. So, when parents touch their babies, it’s sending a message of love, and that has a positive impact on their development.”
The significance of touch does not often feature in conversations around following Christ, but if we are serious about putting Jesus’ example of bridge-building into practice, we cannot avoid the call to be high-touch people. It’s impossible to read the Gospels and miss the extent to which Jesus used touch in his ministry, especially in healing. And he often stirred up shock and offence by touching those who were considered untouchable by respectable society.
HOLINESS: SEPARATION OR WHOLENESS?
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day lived and taught a life of separation. Purity required them to avoid and separate from anyone who was impure or unclean—women, tax collectors, shepherds, undertakers, Gentiles, eunuchs. But Jesus rejected this view of holiness. He was judged and rejected by his own religious leaders because he went out of his way to build bridges where they built walls.
In Matthew 9:9-13, Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector, to be his disciple. Tax collectors were viewed as corrupt and sinful individuals in Jewish society at the time, and associating with them was considered to be morally compromising.2 However, Jesus did not shy away from engaging with these individuals. Instead, he chose to dine with Matthew and other tax collectors and ‘sinners’, much to the dismay of the Pharisees.
Similarly, in Matthew 9:18-26, Jesus healed a woman who had been suffering from a haemorrhage for twelve years and a young girl who had just died. Both of these individuals were considered to be unclean and untouchable according to Jewish law.3 However, Jesus did not shy away from touching and healing them, demonstrating that true holiness is not about avoiding the unclean, but rather about embracing them with love and compassion.
The word ‘holy’ can literally mean ‘set apart’. Many religious people take this to mean that we should be ‘set apart from’ the world, sinners, and certain unacceptable behaviours (like, drinking, smoking, swearing, and extra-marital sex) in order to be holy and pure. But for Jesus holiness was not being set apart FROM anything or anyone; it was being set apart FOR. Jesus chose to live a life that was FOR people, FOR contact, FOR wholeness. He was set apart—as in chosen and called by God, filled with Spirit, and empowered by God—FOR the purpose of bringing wholeness into the world. And now so are we.
What does holiness mean to you? Being set apart FROM or set apart FOR? How can you open your life more to the Spirit who drives us to connect more deeply with others in the quest to bring wholeness to them and to our divided world?
Years ago, I encountered the story of the man who loved books and kept his most precious volumes locked away in a chest at the foot of his bed. He never opened the chest for fear of damaging his treasure and never allowed anyone else to look inside. One day, his grandson asked to see his favourite books and, because he loved the child so much, he agreed to open the chest. To his dismay, his precious collection had been reduced almost to dust. Somehow insects had managed to find their way into the chest and had fed on the pages and covers of the books within. Because they had been set apart from use, visibility, and enjoyment, the books ended up being lost forever. Counterintuitively, had the books been set apart for true, respectful enjoyment and use, they would have been saved from destruction.
THE HEALING POWER OF TOUCH
When people seek to separate and protect themselves to preserve their dignity, purity, or superiority in a society, they always limit what and whom they touch. Touch is always the first to go when we divide ourselves—whether in a marriage or a community. And this was just as true for the religious leaders in Jesus’ day. They didn’t like touch, and they were offended that Jesus ate with sinners and touched lepers.
