Week 34: Day 4
In today's Orbit reflection, Esther shares some thoughts on the story of Jesus healing the bleeding woman in Mark 5.
So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Intro: Hi I’m Esther! Today we're going to continue our journey with Jesus in Mark chapter 5. When we meet Jesus here, he is on his way to an urgent appointment, to visit a little girl who is so unwell that she is potentially dying. And we see what happens when he gets interrupted en route - it's pretty remarkable. Let's pick it up at Mark 5:24
Bible: When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
At once Jesus realised that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Thought: Have you ever known anyone who just wants to climb the social ladder? Someone who just seems too important for everyone else? They only want to be seen with the ‘in‘ crew and, they have zero time for anyone who doesn’t help boost their reputation? You know the type I mean…
In this story, Jesus shows the exact opposite to this: he shows he is utterly interruptible – and for someone others didn’t even give the time of day.
The lady had been ill for years, and who just continued to get worse. Back in the day, she would have been considered “unclean” with such a stigma attached to her, that everything she touched would have been also considered ‘unclean.’ Matters seem to get worst, when we know that this woman has no money - she has spent all she has - and with no money, she was no longer able to eat proper food to keep her strong throughout her illness. She is living in poverty, and she is sick. She is an outcast. We don’t even know her name.
This woman, desperate for change, makes her way to the front in the faith that if she just gets somewhere near him, touches even the edge of his cloak, that there may be a chance that she too would experience his healing. She has heard the rumours - could they be true? Even for her?
And in this moment, Jesus Christ, the Son of God stops, and he simply asks, ‘who touched my cloak?’
Right here, we see the priorities of Jesus - that he cares for people over popularity. He wanted to get to know her. In verse 34, Jesus says to her: ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you.’
Jesus didn’t want to tell her off. Rather, he speaks the truth of her identity into her calling her ‘daughter’- in fact, this is the only time he calls someone ‘daughter’ in the whole of the New Testament!
Unlike someone climbing the social ladder, Jesus makes a point of standing with, and showing his love to the outcast, the left out and those on the outside. No matter how others view her, no what others have labelled her as: she is a daughter of the most-high, welcomed into the Kingdom of God, and adopted into the family.
Prayer: Thank you so much, Jesus, that you have time for everybody - even those that others reject. Thank you so much that you are never too busy to engage with those who ask for your help. Thank you that you speak with kindness. Jesus, will you teach me to see others - even those who I wouldn't normally connect with - as you see them, as part of your family. Amen.
Challenge: How can you engage with someone who everyone else ignores or leaves out? What would kindness look like to them? This week, how can you go out of your way to show them love and speak words of kindness to them, no matter what others think?