Made Well

03Feb
...for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’Immediately her haemorrhage 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?’ 
-Mark 5: 28-30


This passage from Mark always gives me chills. It is the power of touch that takes my breath away. I imagine the woman’s utter despair, her pain, her abject loneliness after years of societal isolation for her disease. I picture crowds pushing each other to get to Jesus, but parting, perhaps out of disgust, to avoid being touched by this woman. Then there’s Jesus, walking through masses of people, accompanied by disciples who are buffering him from the crowds, feeling protective of him and perhaps feeling proud of their proximity to him. In my imagination, as Jesus moves through the crowd toward a place where he can address them, he is walking solemnly, with an unfocused eye, intent upon his purpose, concentrating on his ministry, on what he will say to those awaiting his words.


But suddenly Jesus stops as he realizes that something momentous has just happened. Among all the jostling contacts with humanity, a specific touch has drawn power from him. Who touched my clothing he asked the disciples. They are baffled, it could have been dozens of people, what difference does it make? Let’s keep moving. But Jesus insists upon finding the one whose very touch stopped him in his tracks. I think Jesus felt not just the brush of a hand upon his clothing, but that he felt intensely the pain and the hope of a person who sincerely believed that Jesus truly cared for, and had answers for, such a person as she. 


I believe as followers of Christ, we are continually called upon to be truly touched by each other, willing to both reach out in faith, and to respond in love. By doing so, we may be changed for good.


Musical Reflection - For Good - From the Movie Wicked


God, at times I feel the brokenness of the world is too heavy to witness, too painful to bear, too futile to rail against. The temptation is to turn my head and avert my gaze. Help me to stay present, to seek your will, and to live with hand outstretched in love.

Amen.

Healing

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