Don’t Touch Me!

Last week I found myself in a position many college students would find themselves in at three o’clock in the morning, on my knees in front of the toilet, puking my guts out. It was an experience fairly new to me. I hadn’t been sick to the point of throwing up since I got the flu in high school and I have never partied or drank while in college. As I knelt on the cold linoleum, with my head spinning and body trembling, there must have been a hundred thoughts flying through my head . ”This is more painful than I remember.” “Is that spaghetti I taste? I ate that yesterday!” ”Is my appendix going to explode?” ”Oh, I wish mom were here.  She would know what to do.” After all, momma knows best. Three hours later, however, when I arrived home, I wasn’t greeted by mom with a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a vile containing the cure to tummy pain. I was greeted by my dad. What’s the first thing he does? He doesn’t run to the cupboard and grab a bottle of Pepto. He walks over to the side of my bed and places his hands on my head and prays for me. Now most people would squirm at the thought of this. When your sick the last thing you want is to be touched. A cold cloth. Good. Pepto. Good. Dad laying hands on me. What?

But I have to ask, why is the idea of my dad laying his hands on me and praying for me so weird, especially to a Christian like myself? Doesn’t Jesus tells us in Mark 16:18 that we would “lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” During Paul’s conversion weren’t the scales from his eyes removed through Ananias laying his hands on him and praying for him? Acts 28 tells a wonderful story of healing through Paul’s laying on of hands: 

 7)There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably. 8 ) His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. 9)When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured.

 The entire island was healed! How amazing! All throughout the gospels we see instances of Jesus healing people through the laying on of hands too. In Mark 5:23 a man pleads with Jesus, ”My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” Why did Jairus insist that Jesus place his hands on his daughter and pray for her? There must have been something to it. Am I saying that anytime we want to pray for someone we should put our hands on them? Of course not. Paul said in 1 Timothy 5:22 “not to be hasty in the laying on of hands.” I’m just wondering why don’t we do it more? Is it because we’re afraid? Do we not want to make people uncomfortable? Maybe we don’t truly believe in the power behind the laying on of hands. I know that if I had to choose between making someone uncomfortable for a few moments or God healing them, there would be no debate. Maybe the problem is that deep down inside I believe there is a greater chance of me making someone uncomfortable than of God healing them.