His Caring Touch

Can holding the hand of a loved one actually ease pain? That’s what Pavel Goldstein, a researcher at the University of Colorado, wondered when he held his wife’s hand during the birth of their daughter. He conducted experiments that show holding the hand of a loved one who is in pain not only brings breathing and heart rate into synchronization, but that brain wave patterns will come into harmony as well.

Goldstein found that being in the same room wasn’t nearly as effective at easing the pain of someone you love as actually holding their hand. The brain wave synchronization especially goes up when that person expresses empathy. The more their brains sync, the more the pain goes away. There is healing power in empathetic touch!

Some people argue that God is so transcendent that He is completely out of touch with the human experience. But when Christ came to our earth “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3), God showed that He is indeed able to “sympathize with our weakness” (Hebrews 4:15). The Greek word for sympathize literally means “to be touched” and “to experience together with.”

It’s wonderful to study the healings of Jesus in the Gospels. Often the Bible says that Christ touched people. For a man plagued with leprosy, it says, “Jesus put out His hand and touched him” (Matthew 8:3). Of Peter’s mother-in-law, who was sick with a fever, Jesus “touched her hand, and the fever left her” (Matthew 8:15).

The touch of Jesus was not merely mechanical in nature, but expressed His concern and love. When two blind men asked Christ to heal them, the Bible says, “So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes” (Matthew 20:34). Jesus became human and, though He was sinless, we are assured that Christ feels for our sufferings and stands ready to reach out His healing hand and to touch us in our “time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

Apply It:

Find someone you love who is suffering and sit with them, express empathy for their pain, and then reach out and hold their hand.

Dig Deeper:

Matthew 4:1–11; Romans 12:15; Hebrews 2:18

Key Bible Texts

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15 KJV)