A Simple Touch

When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose. // Matthew 9:25

When I think of many long nights when I’ve had sick children, when they’ve needed to be held close as infants or cuddled as small children, I remember how important the simple action of touch can be. I may not be able to take away their pain, to relieve their suffering immediately, but nothing comforted them like my touch. 

The warmth of a physical gesture meant that they were not alone, that they were in the presence of someone who loves them dearly, and that their suffering was not going unnoticed. It is incredible how much the act of a comforting touch can affect us.

It’s in thinking of these times when physical touch was so important to my own children that I see how beautiful it is that Christ’s miraculous healing was through touch. In today’s Gospel the act of touching is mentioned three times: by the official begging for the healing of his daughter, in the hemorrhaging woman just touching the tassel of Christ’s cloak, and the miraculous act of Christ taking the little girl by the hand (see Matthew 9:18-26). 

It is so profound that those asking Christ for healing believe so strongly in simply His touch. It is a testament not only to Christ’s obvious holiness, but also the power in the act of touch. How wonderful to know that Christ chose to heal through this vital form of human communication. Jesus could have simply willed with a thought and the hemorrhaging woman would have been healed. Or waved His hand and the girl would have been brought back to life. But instead Jesus, the Son of God Himself, touched these people with His own human hands and allowed Himself to be touched, the power of healing moving through His very clothing. 

What does Christ’s touch in the Gospel say about His love for us? How can this transformative love change our hearts today?