Hugs?

March 25th, 2023| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

The other day, the Associated Press reported on an odd announcement by Mexico’s President,
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He made this strange remark about the crisis caused by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid trafficked by Mexican cartels, and which is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, responsible for the most drug overdose deaths in the USA.

The guy has called anti-drug policies in the U.S. a failure and proposes a ban in both countries on using fentanyl in medicine—though hardly any significant quantity of the drug crosses from hospitals into the illegal market.

Anyhow, President Obrador told a morning news briefing recently that the problem of fentanyl addiction was because parents don’t hug their kids enough:

There is a lot of disintegration of families, there is a lot of individualism, there is a lack of love, of brotherhood, of hugs and embraces. That is why U.S. officials should be dedicating funds to address the causes.”

López Obrador also added that family values have broken down in the United States, because parents don’t let their children live at home long enough.

Obrador asserts that that it was Mexico’s close-knit family values that have have saved it from the wave of fentanyl overdoses. But experts disagree: Mexican cartels are apparently making so much money now from the U.S. market that these gangsters see no need to sell fentanyl in their home market.

But, hugs?

Well, there may be something to be said for the value of touch. In fact, the Bible agrees. Especially if the touch is Jesus’s.

You might remember Mark 5:21–43. It is actually two stories, two disaster stories. Jairus, a synagogue official, asks Jesus to come to his house to heal his dying daughter. Jesus sets off, but on the way, a woman with a bleeding problem surreptitiously touches his cloak and is immediately healed. Jesus stops, acknowledges the woman, and blesses her faith. Right then, word comes from Jairus’ house that his daughter has died. It’s too late! Jesus exhorts Jairus to have faith. They all arrive at his house. Jesus takes the little girl by the hand and she comes back to life.
Two amazing stories. One within another.

But there are a couple of interesting details that link the two stories together.

And a woman having a flow of blood for twelve years ….
Mark 5:25

And immediately the little girl got up … she was twelve years [old].
Mark 5:42

One was twelve when she died; the other had been dying for twelve years.

And one of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came, and seeing Him [Jesus],
fell at His feet. and implored Him earnestly, saying,
“My little daughter is at the point of death.”
Mark 5:22–23

And He [Jesus] said to her [the woman],
“Daughter, your faith has healed you; go in peace and be whole from your affliction.”
Mark 5:34

Two daughters in the story!

But there is also … touch!

And a woman having a flow of blood for twelve years, …
coming in the crowd behind, touched His garment.
Mark 5:25, 27

And grasping the hand of the child,
He said to her, … “Little girl, I say to you, rise!”
Mark 5:41–42

And one is healed and the other comes back to life!

We need to feel the touch of Christ. And how do we do that?

Our fellow-believers are our interface with Christ; they are the skin of Christ we touch.

So, yeah, be a hug-giver and a hug-receiver. President Obrador was on to something!

SOURCE: AP News