So in the Bible days, the untouchables were the lepers or people who had similar diseases that were cast out of society. It was literally illegal for them to touch you. Outside the law, though, still they would be considered untouchable. Leprosy is an extremely contagious disease and with any contact, you would probably also catch the disease. They were, by every definition of the word, untouchable.
What is an “untouchable” today though? Leprosy isn’t rampant and if someone catches it, modern day medicine takes care of it. So who are the untouchables? A month deep into ministry in Swaziland and I get it. We put that label on people, never verbally of course because we are “too good” of Christians to do that; but we give them that label by the way we treat them, or the lack of interaction we give them.
The kids I am serving at ministry are modern day “untouchables.” They have more dirt and grime on them than a weeks worth of dirt from a toddler boy just discovering how fun mud is. They have more rashes and skin issues than should be possible. They all have ring worm. Well over half of them have HIV. They sit in your lap and immediately you’re covered in dirt. They get really close to your face to talk to you and definitely spit on you and definitely have never owned a toothbrush. They rub your skin, its different than theirs, therefore fascinating, and they leave behind mud caked into your arm hair. They sit in your lap without pants on, or for the girls, they have dresses but don’t have underwear and their dresses are much too short, leaving them exposed. The kids fight you when you hold them, but scream when you put them down.
So to people like us, who aren’t used to HIV being the norm, who have clothes that fit and always have undies, who aren’t always caked in mud and dirt, and who have never had ringworm, these are the people we consider untouchable. And if they’re untouchable we have an excuse to never pick them up and spin them around and give them the best hug they’ve ever dreamt of.
So I’m here to call us higher, to remind you and me that maybe these “untouchables” are also the untouched. That they’ve never known what its like to just sit in someones lap and that’s why they fight over who gets to be next in mine. Their parents love them, but love is shown differently here. Their parents loving them is letting them come to the care point to get their one meal of the day, its not hugging them or spinning them in circles till they (or I) can’t walk straight. And no matter how love looks here, being held and being touched are still fundamental needs of kids. They crave that, its the way our Creator made us. So everyday I go to ministry, I remind myself to touch the so called untouchables. The kids that bite me when I pick them up but cry when I put them down, still need me to love them. The kid that poops down the slide after pooping all in his pants, so he is now walking around naked from the waist down, he still needs to be held. The kid that has hit me in the face for the fifth time today, she still needs to be held and cuddled and loved on. This is why I’m here. To love and to touch and to hold the kids that are honestly hard to love and to hold.
That all being said, Jesus looks at them and the word untouchable would probably make Him cringe. They are His children. He would have reached out and touched every single one of them. So its now our job. Get in people’s space, the people that you normally would avoid. Go love the (by human standards) unlovable. Put to action what Jesus did and touch some people with hands of love. I don’t know where I’m going with this and I’m not really sure how to close out this blog with a clean wrap up of all my thoughts, so just go love some people. Be willing to get your hands (and all your clothes) a little dirty for the sake of the love of Christ being shared. Because while these kids here in Swazi may be the “untouchables” in my current life, I promise there are some hard to love people around you too.
Love you guys. Sorry if this blog was completely incoherent.
See ya in 50some days.
-K
