“Who Touched Me?” Contagion and the Gesture of Touch in Two Lukan Healing Narratives

In this article I look at two passages from the Gospel of Luke in which touch as a gesture plays a significant role: Jesus’ healing of a man with lepra through touch (Luke 5:12–16), and the woman with the flow of blood who touches Jesus (Luke 8:43–48). The article addresses the significance of touch in these texts and looks at the correlation between touch and notions of illness and wellbeing. I analyze the passages through the theoretical lens of gesture, as developed by Judith Butler, asking what the gesture of touch affects in and beyond the narrative. I argue that haptic gestures have effects on two levels. The first level is the effects on the bodies of the characters in the story, and the second level is the effects on the expansion of the gospel. It is suggested that the gesture of touch simultaneously moves and re-moves in these two narratives. While the illness is re-moved through the touching of Jesus, the gospel continues to spread through rumors of Jesus’ healing powers. The gospel thus seems to imitate the miasmatic character of contagious diseases.