061: Let's Get Physical

April 17, 2010
John 9:6, Luke 7:36-50, 8:40-56, 13:10-13, 14:1-6, 18:15-17,

Jesus performed a lot of miracles, but I was thinking about touch and the receptors our skin has to feel the pressure of other people’s pressure on our skin, and it caused me to browse through the gospels. I noticed that Luke refers to Jesus touching people quite frequently – I suppose that only makes since, given that he was a doctor himself and was probably somewhat more aware than the average person to the impact of physical touch.

I’m a touchy kind of person. I guess I guard it fairly well – our culture is not particularly touch-friendly, unless you’re with your significant other or among close friends. I generally keep my hands off and a reasonable (Bible length!) distance away from the male species, and I don’t ever touch my students or coworkers. Really, the only people I touch is my friends, strangers when I meet them (shaking hands), and perhaps small children I know when I’m playing with them. But I love touching people and being touched. (And no, I’m not talking weird, creepy touching, I’m just talking in general…)

My older sister is not a touchy person. She never has been. I can only remember a handful of times that she hugged me growing up. My Mom’s the same way. She’s engaged now, and Andrew is much more physically affectionate than she is, so she’s coming out of her shell a bit, but sometimes it still feels awkward and weird to hug her when she comes for a visit or when she’s leaving. My younger sister, on the other hand, is like me and totally comfortable with touching. We’ll sit on a six foot couch together, crammed into one corner with a whole side of our bodies touching while we talk, and neither of us mind it. In fact, I think we prefer it.

My big sister was home for the weekend and I was talking about this interesting little tidbit about me and the fact that I find myself CRAVING physical touch from SOMEone if I go a couple days without being hugged or having my shoulder squeezed or my head patted when I’m around people. My sister thought I was crazy. But then, as she began to understand more of where I was coming from, she did something I thought was really, really demonstrative of her love: she offered to give me a back rub. For a person who isn’t too keen on touching people or being touched, I thought it was incredibly generous of her to do it.

It also reminded me of Jesus. I don’t know how he felt about touching people. Maybe he wasn’t too in to it. But he was generous to touch people when he knew they needed it. Some of the “big” miracles of healing that he seems to do involves touching. I wonder if there is some kind of subtle message in that about the healing power of touch. They say that babies in orphanages don’t develop as well when they aren’t regularly touched by other humans. I think we NEED to touch people – or, at least, I do!

I try to hug my friends when I see them now. It’s a bit selfish, I realize, but I appreciate having that physical confirmation of the fact that they are in my presence, aware of my being, and willing to be vulnerable enough to make contact with me.

Go out and hug someone – they might just need it today!