1. Christ is risen, He’s risen indeed, alleluia! The message from God’s Word for this 2nd Sunday of Easter, as we continue to celebrate our Lord’s resurrection from the dead, is taken from 1 John 1:1-2:2, it’s entitled, “The Right Touch,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Picture a delivery room. A new mom has just given birth to her child. The young son is placed in her arms. She holds the baby close. She reaches down and taps his nose, squeezes his cheek, lets the baby curl his tiny fingers around her index finger. There’s something about just the right touch. It says, “I love you.” It communicates closeness, assurance, comfort, warmth, and happiness. Touch tells you that the other person is alive, real, there—and so are you. We need the right touch, to touch and be touched in the right way.
3. Research shows that children who grow up without much touch—abandoned, left alone for much of the time—grew at a slower rate, were sicker, had trouble socially, and displayed more angry and depressed emotions.
4. It doesn’t stop after you grow up. When you meet that special someone, you want to hold hands, put your arms around each other, sit close. We need just the right touch, to touch and be touched in the right way. The right kind of touch says love, assurance, closeness, comfort, happiness. Touch says the other person is there, alive, real—and so are you.
5. We also need the right touch, to touch and be touched in the right way by God. And we are. The Church has a special word to describe when God could touch and be touched. Incarnation. God came to earth and took on human flesh and blood. When the Virgin Mary conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, she gave birth to Jesus, fully divine, but also fully human. Jesus was someone she could touch. Yes, when Mary touched Jesus, tapped his nose, squeezed his cheek, let him curl his tiny fingers around her index finger, she was touching God and he was touching her. God became flesh and dwelt among us. People saw him. They heard him. They touched him. Incarnation—because we need to be touched in the right way, not just by each other, but especially by God. You can picture scenes from Jesus’ ministry where he touched and was touched: Jesus blessing the children (Lk 18:16), Jesus placing mud on the eyes of the man born blind (John 9), the woman touching Jesus’ cloak (Lk 8:43–48), Jesus washing the disciples’ feet (Jn 13:1–11).
6. We have a God who became flesh and dwelt among us to touch and be touched in the right way. John says people could see Jesus, listen to him, and touch him with their hands. Jesus is God incarnate, and his touch says love, closeness, warmth, assurance, joy. His touch says he is alive, real, and there—and so are we.
7. Now you know why leprosy was such a devastating disease in biblical times. While it encompasses a variety of skin diseases, leprosy also destroys the nerve endings so you can’t feel anything. You lose the sense of touch. Even worse, you were banished from the community. No one could touch you or even come near you. You became untouchable and lost the love and warmth, the closeness and joy that came with touch. Were you still alive and real? It didn’t seem so.
8. It still happens—this loss of touch and being touched. An abandoned child. A child left alone for hours on end. A child who isn’t held or doesn’t have a lap to sit on while listening to a book. A marriage gone bad. No touches of love. No more holding hands. No caress of the cheek or big old bear hugs.
9. But the most devastating loss of touch in this life is death. Sometimes families will stay in the hospital room after someone has died. I have been with many families as a Pastor over the years who have experienced the death of their loved one. After their loved one dies, they could touch their loved one’s hand or face, but their skin is cold and lifeless. Their loved one who had died couldn’t touch back. No more touch.
10. I can remember my Grandpa Taggatz’s face. He died in 2013, but if I close my eyes I can see him, his smile, with his white hair, the smell of his pipe tobacco as he sat in his easy chair in the TV room. It’s as if I could reach out and touch him. But then I open my eyes and he’s not there. No touch. Devastating. But the most horrific loss of touch is when we no longer can touch God, or he no longer touches us in the right way. We call that hell. Sure, the endless fires sound bad, but the loss of touch, the total separation from God, means no love, warmth, closeness, assurance, joy. No right touch. What a frightening eternity that would be.
11. So, God becomes incarnate. He becomes flesh and blood. And his blood purifies us from everything that would keep us from touching him now and forever. On the cross, Jesus takes on this most devastating loss of touch. He cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46). Jesus no longer touches his Father in heaven. His Father is no longer touching him. Devastating. Frightening. Horrific. But Jesus is taking death and hell at their worst, the loss of touch with God, so that we could touch and be touched by God forever.
12. Then he rises from the dead. We say that because Jesus lives, we, too, shall live (John 14:19). We also can say that we touch because he touches. Remember how Mary Magdalene held onto Jesus in Jn 20:17 after He had risen from the dead and wouldn’t let him go. Remember doubting Thomas. He wasn’t there when Jesus first appeared risen from the dead. He wouldn’t believe unless he touched Jesus. A week later, Thomas is with the disciples. Jesus appears. He speaks to Thomas. “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side” (Jn 20:27). Just the right touch, as Thomas says, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
13. We, too, need to touch and be touched by Jesus in the right way. I remember when I was younger seeing a statue of Jesus. He wore flowing robes, had long hair and a beard, and his hands were lifted up with two nail holes. The holes were dark, maybe even blood red. I was afraid to touch that statue. Now I realize I need to touch and be touched for my faith to grow and stay healthy. When does that happen?
14. In our Baptism, the sign of the cross is made on our foreheads and hearts. The water touches our head and rolls down the cheek. Jesus is there. Just as he welcomed the little children, he is blessing anyone who comes to him in that refreshing water. At the baptismal font, we touch and have been touched by Jesus in the right way.
15. Or we come up to the altar. Here we see and touch Jesus once again. He has promised to be in that piece of bread, that sip of wine. His body. His blood. Not a cold statue, but the real, living Jesus. Right there. Flesh and blood. Among us. Touching us. In that Sacrament, Jesus is close, saying, “I love you.” He is giving assurance, comfort, and joy as he purifies us from all sin. He is real, present, and alive—and so are we when we touch that bread and wine, that body and blood.
16. It’s been said that since Jesus isn’t here in tangible form as he was for Thomas, the church is his hands, fingers, and arms. Think of when you attend worship here at Grace where anyone who walks in the door will be met by our ushers, an elder, and other church members. The pastor stands in the narthex, greeting those who walk in. A person could have a welcome handshake, be touched, by at least three people before entering for worship. After the service, if the prayers identified someone in need, the touches continue. A person who needs surgery, for whom we prayed for during worship, may be hugged by another church member. We call that the mutual consolation of the brothers and sisters. In a way, that’s Jesus touching us through his Church.
17. We need the right touch, to be touched in the right way by Jesus. We need the greetings and handshakes, the hugs and holds. We need the blessings and water. We need the bread and wine. We need to touch and to be touched by Jesus now in this life and also face-to-face, just like Thomas did, in eternity. We will. One day we, too, will have the joy and wonder of touching Jesus just as Thomas did. His resurrection says our hope is that touch and being touched will not end at the grave, but will be ours once again on the Last Day and for all eternity. The leper, the abandoned child, the brokenhearted, the grieving parents, the son who remembers—we need the right touch, to be touched in just the right way. Jesus’ incredible gift to us is that we are, and we will. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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