The Personal Touch

The personal touch used to be commonplace. Doctors made house calls. Professional athletes mingled with fans and signed autographs without complaint and without charge. Family members spent hours together in the kitchen, cooking meals and baking bread. Not only did you know your bank teller by name; you could even call your congressman and he would talk to you on the phone. Service stations were staffed by service-givers who would fill up your car with gas, check the oil, and wash your car's windshield.

For the most part those days are gone, and frankly, many of us really don't mind. Why labor in the kitchen when you can buy fresh bread and ready-to-eat meals at the supermarket? It's quicker to pump our own gas, and we don't expect much personal attention from our government leaders or even from our physicians as long as they act like competent professionals.

Somehow, though, in the quest for efficiency, we've sacrificed the personal touch. We're a microwave generation—but quality personal relationships can't be microwaved.

Jesus was a master at the personal touch. Two chapters from the Gospel of Matthew illustrate vividly how Jesus interacted with others and met their needs. When a man sick with leprosy came and knelt before him, Jesus touched and healed him (8:1-4). When a centurion asked the Lord to heal his servant, Jesus commended the centurion's faith and healed his servant simply by saying the word (8:5-13). When he found Peter's mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever, Jesus touched her hand and healed her (8:14, 15). That evening, Jesus cast out evil spirits, healed all the sick who were brought to him, and challenged would-be followers to a deeper commitment (8:16-22). When a storm blew up as they crossed the Sea of Galilee on a boat, Jesus' terrified disciples thought they were going to drown, but the Lord calmed the wind and the waves (8:23-27).

Jesus encountered two demon-possessed men and cast evil spirits out of them (8:28-34). He healed and forgave a paralyzed man (9:1-8). He called Matthew to be his disciple, and dined with Matthew's friends (9:9-13). He responded to a question about fasting, healed a woman who had been ill for 12 years, then went to the home of a synagogue ruler whose daughter had died, where the touch of the Master's hand restored the girl to life. Approached by two blind men, Jesus touched their eyes and restored their sight, and then he healed a man who could not talk (9:27-34). Filled with compassion, Jesus preached, taught, and healed many in the towns and villages, for he saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd (9:35-37). Then he gave his disciples this urgent command: "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field" (Matthew 9:38).

There's no going back to the bygone days, but we can still offer the personal touch in Jesus' name. Instead of dehumanizing the store clerk, we can see her as part of the Lord's harvest field and treat her with kindness and respect. Instead of overlooking the little boy down the street, we can get acquainted with his family and invite them to church. Instead of remaining anonymous at church, we can invest ourselves deeply in a small group, Sunday school class, or ministry team. Instead of ignoring the sick and the lost, we can visit them, shepherd them, and serve them. The Master still longs to extend the personal touch. We are his hands and feet.