Jesus wasn't afraid to touch those who needed His compassion. His followers are the same - unafraid to touch those in need.

1. Get Your Hands Dirty
Do you have hands-on experience?
Jesus touched lepers, the unclean,
the sinners, food, and even the dead.
Are you afraid to touch things?

2. Matthew 8:1-4
When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can
make me clean.”
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”
Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest
and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

3. Matthew 20:29-32, 34
Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by,
they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord,
Son of David, have mercy on us!”
Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their
sight and followed him.

4. Mark 7:32-35
There some people brought to him a
man who was deaf and could hardly talk,
and they begged Jesus to place his hand
on him.
After he took him aside, away from the
crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the
man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the
man’s tongue.
He looked up to heaven and with a deep
sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” which
means “Be opened!”.
At this, the man’s ears were opened, his
tongue was loosened and he began to
speak plainly.

5. Luke 7:11-15
Soon afterward, Jesus went to a
town called Nain, and his disciples
and a large crowd went along with
him.
As he approached the town gate, a
dead person was being carried
out—the only son of his mother,
and she was a widow. And a large
crowd from the town was with
her.
When the Lord saw her, his heart
went out to her and he said,
“Don’t cry.”
Then he went up and touched the
bier they were carrying him on,
and the bearers stood still. He
said, “Young man, I say to you, get
up!”
The dead man sat up and began to
talk, and Jesus gave him back to
his mother.
Matthew 9:18-25
While he was saying this, a synagogue leader
came and knelt before him and said, “My
daughter has just died. But come and put your
hand on her, and she will live.”
Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his
disciples.
Just then a woman who had been subject to
bleeding for twelve years came up behind him
and touched the edge of his cloak.
She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I
will be healed.”
Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart,
daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.”
And the woman was healed at that moment.
When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s
house and saw the noisy crowd and people
playing pipes, he said, “Go away. The girl is not
dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.
After the crowd had been put outside, he went
in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.

6. Luke 10:33-36
But a Samaritan, as he traveled,
came where the man was; and
when he saw him, he took pity on
him.
He went to him and bandaged his
wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Then he put the man on his own
donkey, brought him to an inn
and took care of him.
The next day he took out two
denarii and gave them to the
innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he
said, ‘and when I return, I will
reimburse you for any extra
expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you
think was a neighbor to the man
who fell into the hands of
robbers?”

7. Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 20-23
The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were
defiled, that is, unwashed.
The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial
washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.
When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they
observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.
So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live
according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”
He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship
me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand
this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what
comes out of a person that defiles them.”
He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out
of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come
from inside and defile a person.”