There is a therapeutic element to physical contact. Studies have shown that affectionate touch is critical for a child’s development in all dimensions – social, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. Babies and infants who a deprived of adequate contact and interaction with parents or caregivers are at much higher risk for mental and social impairment later in life.

Not only does physical touch lead to proper human development, it can also mean the difference between life and death in premature newborns. Affectionate human contact can instill an amazing resiliency in newborns that would have no chance of pulling through otherwise. Also, touch therapy and therapeutic massage can increase recovery times and lower stress among the elderly and surgery patients.

Beyond that, we are a society that appreciates the value of physical contact. Hugging our children and long-time friends — kissing our spouse and holding their hand — giving a good firm hand shake to that person we just met — a pat on the back or high five for a job well done. People need to feel the warmth of another person’s touch in order to maintain a healthy sense of self-esteem and self-worth.

When we look to the ministry of Jesus, he could simply say the words and a person could be healed of whatever ailed them. However, there were many cases in which he included some form of physical touch, especially when the person had not had physical contact with another human being for some time (i.e. the leper in Mark 1 and the woman with the bleeding problem in Mark 5).

We are created in the image of God. When God created man, he actually reached down and formed man from the dust of the ground. We are God’s workmanship, his masterpiece, the work of his hands. Language is used throughout Scripture picturing God taking his people by the hand and leading them (i.e. out of Egypt, into the promised land, etc.). David describes God as the one who lifts up David’s weary head. We all are longing for God’s touch. We all desire to feel our Creator’s hands once again. Yet we are all created in the image of God, and we all contain the Spirit of God.

The power of human touch cannot be explained away in mere scientific terms. Science can’t explain why a mother’s kiss will heal a booboo. Chemistry can’t tell you why it makes us feel better to cry into someone’s shoulder. Biology cannot fathom what would make a person touch another person with an incredibly contagious disease. The power of human touch only make sense because of whose image we bear.

I just finished reading this disturbing study performed by the Barna Group concerning Americans’ view of Easter. It is unsettling how many people don’t regard Easter as a religious holiday, and of those who do, many fail to associate the holiday with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Looking at my own past, there has never been an Easter weekend which I remember spending focused on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The Lads to Leaders convention, in which I participated from 2nd to 10th grade, is always on Easter weekend. For eight years I spent the weekend of the resurrection in competition with my fellow believers.

Then I came to Harding where the biggest event of the year, Spring Sing, dominates the weekend. So again, I have spent 4 or 5 more years supporting or participating in competition on Easter weekend. During the days my Savior was dead, I was singing and dancing for thousands to see.

Spring Sing and Lads to Leaders are not bad in and of themselves. And they are not the only distractions taking place during Easter time. We have Easter Egg hunts, school parties, and pastel colored baskets full of fake grass. On top of that, rarely have the congregations I have attended actually taken time out to remember the day on which the new covenant was ratified. The resurrection of Christ should be a bigger deal than the birth of Christ, yet Christmas is a much bigger holiday on our calendars.

Let me also clear the air a little. I’m aware that Christians commemorate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus every time they take the Lord’s Supper and perform a baptism. Also, I know that the Easter holiday has been overrun with pagan tradition since its inception (hence the bunnies and eggs).

Regardless of all that, the rest of America (and much of the world) recognizes Easter as an important holiday. I think that we should do a better job of ridding the holiday of all the pagan and secular mess and really SHOW the rest of the world WHY we are celebrating! Let’s present them with the good news of the resurrection while they are wondering what this Easter thing is all about.

PS – Easter keeps in line with the Jewish celebration of Passover, and the Jews traditionally use a lunar calendar. That’s why the date changes from year to year.