The Touch of Healing

 "Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. 'I am willing,' he told him. 'Be made clean.'"
Mark 1:41 (CSB)

"I wouldn't do what you're doing for $10 million!" the American tourist tells Mother Teresa as she dresses a leper's festering wounds.

Mother Teresa looks up from the gaping hole where the man's nose used to exist. The stench is nauseating. "My friend, neither would I. Neither would I!" she replies. Mother Teresa isn't working for money. She has a heart of compassion.

Today’s verse says Jesus was “moved with compassion.” The Greek word used in this verse literally means a deep, visceral feeling from the bowels. Jesus Christ is deeply moved by your suffering and need, and when you carry His heart, He moves you to respond to the needs of others.

This is the heart of the healing touch. It begins with what you get, and grows into to what you can give.

When was the last time you helped someone out of compassion? Maybe you stopped to talk with the homeless person that everyone else crossed the street to avoid. Maybe you visited that neighbor whose home smells because they’re too depressed to clean. Maybe you sent a kind word to a distant family member when it was tempting to avoid them.

Just as Jesus has shown you compassion, you can touch others with healing compassion. Jesus has no hands but ours to bring His healing touch to a hurting world.

Prayer: Father, thank You for Your touch of healing. I praise You for Your heart of compassion. Create in me a heart like Yours. Help me reach out to touch others with Your healing love, regardless of their condition, just like You continue to do for me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.