Feeling the Faith

Using the sense of touch to reach Jesus and others

11/20/2017

Luke 18:35-43 As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!" The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me!" Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" He replied, "Lord, please let me see." Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you." He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God. When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

        Let me tell you a little about the life of Helen Keller. Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard of her. She has an amazing story of overcoming insurmountable odds. She was born in 1880 in Tuscumbia, AL. She was born with the ability to see and hear like you can, but at 19 months old, she contracted a rare illness that left her both blind and deaf.

          I want you to step into the world of Helen Keller by doing two things this morning. First of all, stand up and close your eyes; no peeking! Can you see the darkness? You can still hear the sound of my voice, but all colors and people and places are vanishing. Touch the pew in front of you to steady yourself. That’s how blind people experience the world. Keep your eyes closed and now the second thing I want you to do is take your two hands and cover your ears. Don’t just cup your ears, but press down on your ears so you shut out all sounds as much as possible. You might not be able to hear my voice very well, and can probably hear the sound of your own breathing.  Can you image how scary the world would be to someone who could neither see nor hear? That was Helen Keller’s world. Okay, you can uncover your ears and have a seat.

        In 1887, Anne Sullivan was hired by Helen’s parents to tutor her, and Helen was only 7 years old, living in a world without sight or sound. So, can you guess how Anne Sullivan taught her? Helen couldn’t see a smart board, nor could she hear Anne’s voice talking to her. So, Anne used Helen’s sense of touch and feeling. For example, to teach her about water and its name, Anne would run cold water over Helen’s left hand and spell the word “w-a-t-e-r” in Helen’s right hand with her finger, and suddenly Helen made the connection between the “word” and the “world.” In other words, the things in the world have names.  The word in her right hand referred to the reality in her left hand.

        By the way, have you ever noticed how in the National Scripps Spelling Bee, all the smart Indian kids spell the word in the palm of their hands? They not only hear the word the announcer says, and they not only see the letters of the word in their hand, but they can also feel the word in the palm of their hands. They engage 3 senses – sight, sound and touch – to spell better. And that’s why the Indian kids always win!

        It was through her feelings, therefore, that Helen Keller found the world. But her sense of touch and her feelings helped Helen do more than that.  Helen could also feel her faith as a Christian. She once said: “I knew Jesus was always present; I just never knew his name!” She could finally feel his name written in the palm of her hand. Boys and girls, spell the word “J-e-s-u-s” in the palm of your hand. That’s the feeling of faith. Can you feel the faith?

         In the gospel today, a blind man also experiences the feeling of faith. To enter into his world, I want you to close your eyes, so you can feel what he felt: blindness. For a few minutes, just listen to the sound of my voice, but don’t fall asleep! He is sitting by the roadside begging when he hears a commotion of people passing by. He asks who it is and they tell him it’s Jesus. He yells out, “Jesus, Son of David,” have pity on me!” And when Jesus approaches, he asks him to heal his blindness. In most cases, Jesus touched the person he healed. Why would Jesus do that? Well, like Helen Keller and the National Spelling Bee champions, Jesus wanted people to feel the faith. It’s almost like Jesus knelt down and spelled his name in the palm of the hand of the blind man. The blind man could say like Helen Keller, “I knew he was always there; now I know his name.” Sometimes we have to feel the faith. Now you can open your eyes again.

        Boys and girls, we’ve talked a lot about family in this retreat, and I hope you have experienced being a Trinity family today. But more than seeing family or hearing about family, I hope you started feeling like family: that you are truly brothers and sisters to each other. I want you to write the word “T-r-i-n-i-t-y” in the palm of your hand, and feel the word Trinity. Sometimes a feeling - a feeling in the palm of your hand - gets you closer to the reality than sight and sound do, like it did for Helen Keller.

        Do you know who feels the most like family at Trinity? It’s our graduates, our alumni. Have you noticed Northside and Southside students at Trinity football games? They love to come back and watch you compete. Do you see them at in the stands at basketball and volleyball games?   They cheer the loudest.  Did you see how they loved to return for Quiz Bowl tournaments? They really feel like family at Trinity, and they see you as their little brothers and sisters, and they love to spend time with you.

         Boys and girls, you know how much it hurts when families separate and divorce. Some of you know that personally and painfully.  Well, try to avoid doing those things here at Trinity that hurt our family unity, like forming clicks or making people feel like they don’t belong. Some students may find it hard to spell “Trinity” or “family” in the palm of their hands because they don’t feel like part of our family. They don’t feel like siblings, but more like strangers.Just like you have to feel the faith, so you also have to feel like family.

         Now, I want you to do one final exercise. Take you left hand and extend it to the person sitting on your left. If you’re at the left end of the pew, you don’t have to do that. Now, take your right hand and with your pointer finger write the word “family” in the palm of your brother or sister’s hand that’s extended toward you. I pray you will always feel like family here at Trinity. Now, hold that hand, and let’s pray our family prayer, the Our Father, in Latin. Pater noster, qui es en caelis...

Praised be Jesus Christ!