Healing Touch

Sorry, I forgot to post yesterday! It is not that I wasn't thinking about it... I just forgot to take the photo and get it up on the blog.

John 9:5-6 "'As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.' When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes."

"I am the light of the world." Such a grand statement from Jesus. A beautiful, dignified image of who he is. And then he turns around and spits. Not only that, he reaches down and mixes his spit with the dirt on the ground and then scoops some up and spreads it on a poor blind man's eyes! So unsanitary! So not what I expected from the light of the world! Though perhaps it connects a bit with the living water from last week's passage on the woman at the well?

I'm not sure why spit had to be involved, but I appreciate the healing touch involved. I don't see or experience enough of that these days. There are so few places where people can express affection, care or concern for another person with physical touch as an adult outside the immediate family. There are healing touches by Doctor's, but so often they are supposed to remain distant and scientific to keep from giving off the wrong impression. Pastor's often hold hands with someone or place a hand on their shoulder when praying, but they have to be very careful about lingering too long or crossing boundaries. Adults have to be so careful about touching other people's children... and some need to be careful about how they touch their own. I am not saying that we shouldn't be careful about this issue. And I mourn with those who may never experience physical touch in a positive way because of their experiences of sexual abuse or violence.

I do think, though, that we have lost something in our society. I think somehow touch has become almost exclusively equated with sex and violence in our society. We have lost the sense of touch as healing and intimacy. Not completely. But close to it... I think we could learn from our brothers and sisters around the world who express friendship a bit differently. Men who hug and women who hold hands. Those who greet each other with a kiss on the cheek. I think there can be something healing in healthy appropriate physical touch from another person. I know I have appreciated attending a church where hugs are a normal part of the morning service. Perhaps there is something about a healing touch that allows us to also be a bit of the light of the world.