Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there. Please note: Starting next week, my turn at the Tripod will move to Tuesdays.
In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 9, Jesus encounters two blind men and asks if they believe he can heal them. After they say yes, he touches their eyes, says “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” Their eyes then open.
Jesus didn’t have to touch the blind men to heal them, of course. All they had to do was believe, and it would have been done. He told them as much. But Jesus, being both fully God and fully human, knew the power of human touch. He knew that two blind men probably hadn’t experienced that touch often. And so he touched them, because that sort of human connection is something we all crave. A Psychology Today article notes:
More recent studies have found that seemingly insignificant touches yield bigger tips for waitresses, that people shop and buy more if they’re touched by a store greeter, and that strangers are more likely to help someone if a touch accompanies the request. Call it the human touch, a brief reminder that we are, at our core, social animals.
Jesus often touched those he healed and healed those he touched who had not even asked for healing. By touching them, he said, “I acknowledge your existence.” It was something many Gentiles had never heard from a Jew. It was something that prostitutes, tax collectors, and others had never heard from someone outside their own circles. And that acknowledgment opened their hearts and souls to allow the healing.
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