Thursday, March 6, 2014

Further reflection...Day 2

I was thinking about the 'bad' questions that this woman may have been asking.   Questions that led to shame, blame and despair.  "Why can't they heal me?"  "Why did I spend all my money?"  "Why is this happening to me?"  "What did I do to deserve this?"   Then it seems to me that she somehow--by the Holy Spirit--came to a transformative question: "What can I do today to make steps toward being well?"  She decided to reach out to Jesus.  And she was not disappointed.  Jesus' question, "Who touched me" is also a call for us to look seriously at our own needs, our own hurts, our own motives that drive us to Jesus/God.  Didn't Jesus 'know' who touched him?  Perhaps the question is for her sake.  "Who touched you?  It was me.  I'm hurting.  I'm scared.  I'm at the end of my rope.  I've got no where else to turn and so I've come to you--that's who I am and that's who touched you!"  May we be as honest as we reach out to Jesus.  Amen

Luke 8:40-48   New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 Just then there came a man named Jairus, a leader of the synagogue. He fell at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, who was dying.
As he went, the crowds pressed in on him. 43 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years; and though she had spent all she had on physicians,[a] no one could cure her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. 45 Then Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” When all denied it, Peter[b] said, “Master, the crowds surround you and press in on you.” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; for I noticed that power had gone out from me.” 47 When the woman saw that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

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