Blink

Jesus reached out and touched the man. “I want to be healed.” Luke 5:13

Isn’t it absolutely amazing that Jesus touched people? It’s not unusual that He touched little children. They are usually cute and irresistible. But Jesus touched them when they were dirty, and smelly, and noisy as well. He touched the young and old, the men and the women, the sick, the demented, the ones who were outcast by their own kind. Jesus became man so He could reach out and touch us, with no discrimination. 

Malcolm Gladwell's book, “Blink", is about 'the power of thinking without thinking'. You know, the split second judgement we make about a person just by looking at them? That snap decision that sometimes colors the way we respond to a stranger or circumstance? I confess I do that a lot, even if I do not want to. 

There is an interesting story in that book about why today, many musicians are auditioned playing their instruments BEHIND SCREENS so that they will not be judged with prejudice. The result is that more women get hired into prestigious orchestras like the Metropolitan Opera in New York or the Munich Philharmonic. Previously, the conductor and the others making decisions see that its a tiny woman with a French horn, and their decision-making is corrupted. 

I too need a screen that would keep me from being critical and judgmental, and jumping to conclusions about people. And that screen is to see through Jesus' eyes. We need to see through the lens of His love that was willing to touch a leper, an outcast, willing to heal and make whole all who approached Him.