June 28, 2015
Sunday

“Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” Mark 5:25-34

“And so I find myself recalling today a seminary professor who told us to remember that everyone whom Jesus healed did also one day finally die. Jairus’ daughter, if she was so blessed, outlived her father and grew to be a mother and grandmother herself. The hemorrhaging woman, finally declared ‘clean,’ was able to return to a full life which had been denied her for twelve years. No doubt both of them felt a deeper gratitude for God’s gifts because of all they had experienced. But in the end, like all of us, they one day died as well.

I intentionally use the word ‘wholeness’ here because like any physical disease hers was one that isolated in ways you and I can hardly imagine today. And while, to be sure any one of us who has ever struggled with illness or what the world perceives as disability has some idea of what her life must have been, what would be different is in Jesus’ day she would have been considered ‘unclean’ and therefore prohibited from entering the synagogue, the temple. She would not have been allowed to enter the ‘holy places’ of her time. We can only begin to imagine how she was treated by her family, her community. Indeed, we can be certain that her illness had broken more than her body. And yet we hear that even in her desperation, she does not have the courage to go to Jesus to ask for what she needs. Rather, she believes if she can just get close enough perhaps some of the goodness Jesus offers will also be hers. It turned out that this was so.

Only the story doesn’t end there. Rather, it ends with Jesus turning to her and acknowledging the connection they now share. It ends with Jesus’ promise that her healing was not only physical — but would now extend to all of her life. And somehow that larger promise is only spoken and received in the relationship formed between them. When they speak face to face. The no longer hemorrhaging woman realized healing or wholeness not only when the bleeding stopped, but when she finally looked into the face of Jesus. In that moment she was lifted up from being one who felt she had to sneak up behind Jesus and anonymously receive the gifts of God to one who was recognized by and acknowledged by Jesus himself.” Rev. Dr. Janet H. Hunt On Healing and Wholeness June 23, 2012

I remember learning about a woman who wanted to attend a local church, but she was not a “churched” person. She had not grown up in a church, she did not know what church was really about, but she wanted to be a part of a church. So she walked by the doors of a church for seven years — each time thinking this would be the time she would enter — but it took seven years to get the courage to come inside. That may sound crazy to many, but it speaks to the nervousness of those who are “outsiders”, who want so much to be “insiders”, but they are afraid. They feel like the woman from our reading today — like they either have a disease and no one will accept them, or like they want so much just to get close to Jesus, but they don’t know how others will react.

What can you do today in your church to make “outsiders” feel like they are truly welcome? How can we, as a church, or as individual members of a congregation, help people feel more “whole” in their faith lives?

Pastor Dave