Who? – sermon on June 28, 2015
Mark 5: 24b-34 A large crowd followed Jesus and pressed in on him. 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.”
Sermon: Who? by Rev. Doreen Oughton
I am especially fond of this passage. Last time I preached it was at my candidating service – the expanded reading, with Jairus falling to his knees before Jesus, begging that he come heal his daughter who is sick. Jesus agrees to go with him, and on his way, has this encounter with the unnamed woman. That sermon was titled, “the Gift of Desperation,” and it focused on Jairus and this woman, so clearly desperate, and willing to take huge risks to find healing through Jesus.
But as I pondered the passage this week, I found myself wondering more about Jesus than about the other people present. Why did he stop when he felt the power go out of him? Was he upset? Did he feel someone had intruded on his personal space, taken something without permission? I found myself wondering what his tone was? Was he surprised that he could heal even without intending to? Pleasantly surprised? Nervous about what that might mean?
He insists of pausing in his journey to find out what happened – to learn who in this pressing crowd had touched him and drawn healing power from that touch. To me it is clear from the scripture that more people have touched him than this woman. The crowd is pressing in – the disciples mock him for asking who touched him. But he seems to know that there was one touch that was different, one touch where healing was the intention, even if not his intention. And so the woman comes forward, falls to her knees, and tells the “whole truth.”
And as I pondered this insistence on Jesus’ part, his words to her after her confession that her faith has made her well, and that she should go, healed of her disease; I came to believe that Jesus was not resentful in any way towards this touch that took some of his power. I think he was concerned for the woman that the healing had been incomplete. I think Jesus wanted to make sure the job was done right.
I think that Jesus knows that healing is about more than addressing a particular problem or symptom. Because when our bodies are diseased, usually so are our spirits. Much of the commentary on this passage focuses on the social stigma this woman’s disease would have yielded as her hemorrhaging made her unclean. But even without religious rules, illnesses have a way of putting distance between the ill person and others. Especially chronic conditions. People get tired of hearing about it.
Perhaps Jesus knew that the bleeding stopped, and that was good, but there were other wounds that needed healing also. He wanted to look at her, perhaps touch her, let her know that she was worthy of his attention and intentional healing. He would hear her “whole truth.” That personal connection must have multiplied the healing power.
This idea of personally connecting with others when we are in need of healing, or when they are, is truly divine wisdom. I think of the Supreme Court decision this week legalizing same sex marriage across the nation, and how unimaginable such a decision was 15 years ago. I think one of the things that happened that made a huge difference is that people told their whole truth, and others listened and learned. When our co-worker, neighbor, brother, sister, son, daughter acknowledged who they were, and how they suffered from judgment and projection and unequal treatment, people could see another human being, another beloved child of God. Not a freak, not someone less than.
So let us try to emulate this divine form of healing. When we are in need of healing, let’s not seek the quick fix, not just physical relief. But take a chance and tell your whole truth, how you endured much. Ask to be looked at with care, touched with tenderness, heard with compassion. And when you are aware of someone else in need of healing, offer these things to them. It is such faith that makes us well. May it be so.
