Touched by the Holy

Jesus said to him, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you."  (John 13:10)

From Richard Roberts:

I read this verse while studying for this week's sermon.  What struck me was the idea of "cleanness."  

Today we are making so many efforts to avoid touch, because of the possibility of contamination, of uncleanness.  You touch somebody with a virus, you become unclean, you get the virus.  

However, what Jesus is telling his disciples here is that His touch works in the opposite.  Rather than our uncleanness making him unclean, His touch is so potent, so pure, so holy, that it purifies us!  His touch cleans us.  It is His touch which cures us of any cause of our shame, whether we feel unclean because of what we have done, or because of what has been done to us by someone else.  The touch of Jesus cleans us, so that there is no need for further cleansing, no more fear of being made unclean, and no stain of shame which is not lifted by His gentle hand.

This is such a freeing thought for those of us who struggle with feelings of being unclean and the assumption that God must be disgusted with us because of what we've touched.  But we must remember that those who have been touched by Jesus are wholly and perfectly clean.  So, you can rest, o weary soul, from your fears and anxieties, your doubts and your shame, because "you are clean" by the touch of the perfectly Pure One.





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