Jesus Touched Them

by Henry Morris, Ph.D.

"And Jesus put forth His hand and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed" (Matthew 8:3).

This is the first occurrence in the New Testament of the word "touch," and it is significant that it was Jesus who was doing the touching. When Jesus healed someone, He could (and sometimes did) merely speak a word to accomplish the healing. The nobleman's son, dying in Capernaum, for example, was healed when Jesus so spoke in Cana of Galilee, six miles away (John 4:46-53).

Often, however, He showed His love and concern by actually touching the person. Lepers were considered untouchable, for their loathsome disease was highly contagious and considered incurable. Yet Jesus touched him, and healed him! On another occasion, a young man had actually died, but Jesus "came and touched the bier," and the dead man was raised from the dead (Luke 7:14).

Peter's wife's mother was "sick of a fever" (Matthew 8:14,15), the word indicating a high fever and probably a contagious disease, but Jesus "touched her hand, and the fever left her." On at least two occasions, blind men beseeched Him for their sight. "Then touched He their eyes. . . . And their eyes were opened" (Matthew 9:29,30; see also Matthew 20:34). A man who was deaf and dumb was healed when Jesus "touched his tongue. . . . And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain" (Mark 7:33,35). When Peter impetuously cut off the ear of one of the soldiers sent to arrest Jesus, "He touched his ear, and healed him" (Luke 22:51).

One touching was different. "They brought young children to Him, that He should touch them" and despite the disciples' objections, "He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them" (Mark 10:13,16). HMM

This article was originally published January, 2008. "Jesus Touched Them", Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/3557/ (accessed December 01, 2008).