Jesus didn't stay behind a warning tape

God in the Flesh
Don Everts

The four Gospels are full of emotional details. For example, they describe Jesus holding a man's hand, shedding tears for a friend, and sighing deeply in his spirit. They also painstakingly describe the anger of Jesus' enemies and show us Jesus getting spit at and slapped and ridiculed.

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Jesus spoke with power. Jesus spoke with authority. He performed miracles that left crowds stunned and in awe. In His conversations with the religious figures of the day He spoke with razor-sharp truth. But yet, despite His awesomeness, despite all the people that fell at His feet and worshipped Him or those that bent in fear, the Bible captures an amazing amount of detail about his hands... His hands.

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
Matt 20:34

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"
Mark 1:41

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured[a] of his leprosy.
Matt 8:3

He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
Matt 8:15

Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"
Matt 9:29

But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid."
Matt 17:7

He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"
Mark 8:23

Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
Mark 8:25

But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.
Luke 22:51

This man of divine authority, this walking God, this God-made-flesh was compassionate, and caring. He used his hands to reach out and touch the sick, calm the fearful, and hold people gently. The awe-inspiring God of all creation, that made people tremble, reached out and softly held the hand of a blind man. He touched the ears of the deaf. He touched the deformed, rotting flesh of lepers. Jesus wasn't afraid. He was never repulsed nor did He shy away. He saw the hurt and He went to them. He reached out and touched them... and that touch restored them, freed them of their burdens and made them whole again.

When Jesus left Jericho, (Matt 20:29-34) a mad crush of people followed hoping to catch a glimps of His wonders. He and His disciples fought the crowds. Along the way, his handlers pushed back anyone that got in the way. "Out of the road, Jesus is a busy man. He has important business to do!"

But then two blind men approached. They too were rebuked by entourage but they didn't give up. They turned in their desperation and started screaming at the top of their lungs for help. "Help Jesus! Help! We need your mercy! We need your help!! We are desperate! We need your mercy!" The blind men hollered at Him as He passed. (v 30)

Jesus stopped, and looks their way. He calls out to them, "What is it that you need?"

Can you imagine? These men, mostly forgot by society, begging for coins on the street, desperate and at the end of their rope, call out to God for help... and He stops and answers... He literally stops and asks what it is He can do for them.

They answer, "Lord, Open our eyes." (v 33)


Moved by compassion, Jesus touched their eyes.
-Matthew 20:34


He showed mercy on them, poured out His grace upon them, gave them what they desperately needed and set them free. He reached out to them in compassion and touched them.

It wasn't just the sick and the desperate. Jesus also touched others. When children were brought His way, His handlers tried to turn them away. But Jesus said, "No, bring them here... This is what the Kingdom is all about." Jesus held babes and told children stories as they sat on his lap.

The strong-fisted, wrathful God of Israelites, as it turns out, has gentle hands.