Winter 1986
Touching Jesus
George W. Bolduc

The Psalmist composed, from out of his inner being, praises, expressions of love and words of faith to give vent to the overflow of his heart to the Lord. These expressions touched the heart of the Lord and brought a response from Him. In our day, we need to experience this same quality of devotion to the Lord. Then, we will be able to touch the Lord as did the Psalmist of old.

What does it really mean to touch Jesus? The Scripture says, “And withersoever He entered, into villages or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and BESOUGHT HIM that they might touch if it were but the border of His garment: And as many as TOUCHED HIM were made whole” (Mark 6:56). Everyone who touched Him was made whole, but there is more involved here than just a physical touch. Only those who seek diligently are able to touch Jesus in the manner which brings wholeness.

Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt 7:7). Many of us have learned how to ask in faith, receiving from God according to the promises of His Word, but seeking goes deeper. There is a relationship with Jesus which cannot be experienced, except by diligent and persistent seeking.

Not only did the people seek Him; but it was the border of His garment that they sought to touch. The border of His garment was low, near the ground. Touching the hem of His garment involved their getting down low, humbling themselves at His feet.

“And the whole multitude sought to touch Him: for there went virtue out of Him, and healed them all” (Luke 6:19). Those who touched Jesus received His virtue. We are informed by the Apostle Peter that we, who are partakers of the divine nature, are to give all diligence to add to our faith, virtue (2 Peter 1:4-5). Thus, we are to diligently seek Him in order to receive His virtue.

Those who touched Jesus had to press through opposition to do it. Jesus, on a particular occasion, was invited to dinner at the house of one of the Pharisees. These religious leaders did not welcome into their homes those whom they considered to be sinners. Shortly after Jesus sat down to eat, we find a sinner woman coming to Him with an alabaster box of ointment.

With no outward welcome, she had to make her way through the humiliation and scorn of the Pharisees. “And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment” (Luke 7:37-38).

Then Jesus said, “If any man will come AFTER ME, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and FOLLOW ME” (Luke 9:23). The Scripture says, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God” (2 John 9). The word “transgress” means literally “to go on ahead.” This was the problem with the children of Israel in the wilderness. They were continually desiring to bypass God and do things their own way. “They drank of that spiritual Rock that FOLLOWED THEM; And that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness” (I Cor 10:4-5).

But here, the woman was behind him, weeping. She had a godly sorrow that worked in her a lasting repentance (II Cor 7:10). In Proverbs 15:13, we find these words, “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.” The Lord is pleased with a broken and contrite heart. David wrote, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

The woman began to wash His feet with tears and wipe them with the hairs of her head. Now she is down low on the floor at His feet. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide UNDER THE SHADOW of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). We cannot touch the Lord until we humble ourselves and submit our minds, thoughts, opinions and all the areas in which we have been the head of our own lives at His feet. (She washed His feet with the hairs of her head).

In humility before Him, the woman kissed Jesus’ feet unceasingly. The Psalmist said, “Kiss the son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are they that put their trust in Him.” Psalm 2:12 The word “kiss” here means “to pay homage” or “to touch”; also implied in the meaning of the Hebrew word is the idea of being equipped with weapons. When we touch Jesus with worship and adoration, as the woman did when she kissed his feet, we receive His virtue and a spiritual equipping to do warfare against the wiles of the devil. True worshippers of Jesus, who have kissed the feet of Jesus, will also treat one another with love and respect. “Greet the brethren with an holy kiss” (I Thess 5:26).

The woman extravagantly poured out the costly ointment upon Jesus’ feet and anointed them. Her worship was extreme. She expended all of the ointment she had on the feet of the Master without any reservation. This is the principle purpose of the anointing of God’s Spirit that He desires to give to His people, that it be first poured out to Him as a fragrant sacrifice of praise, worship and humble obedience. We need the costly ointment that is produced by sorrow, suffering, rejoicing and sweetness, then tempered together in the furnace of affliction. No cheap imitations will be acceptable.

Another woman touched Jesus while He was on His way to a house where He was urgently needed. This woman needed healing from a constant issue of blood and she pressed through the crowd, came BEHIND Jesus and got down LOW and touched the border of His garment. She was just another person in the crowd until she touched Him. Many were around Him touching Him, but this touch was different. “And Jesus said, SOMEBODY hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me” (Luke 8:46). When we come to Jesus, it is the quality of the touch that is important.

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought the things that are” I Cor 1:27-28). The woman came to Jesus as one of the THINGS WHICH ARE NOT and when she touched Him she became “SOMEBODY” because of His virtue.

She came to Him trembling and falling down before Him, honestly declaring to Him everything in her heart. He replied, “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace” (Luke 8:48). This woman touched His heart and He called her “Daughter” and made her whole. “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

We need to seek diligently to humble ourselves before the Lord Jesus Christ, obediently following Him, weeping and laying down our self-life, being poured out in worship to our glorious Lord and expended in service to Him and to one another. As we keep our hearts open and honest before God and man, we will begin to overflow with His virtue, and we will be able to speak the things which we have experienced, touching Jesus.

Then the Lord Jesus will be glorified by our lives and touched by our worship, and men will be blessed by the virtue of Jesus that overflows from our hearts.