Home » Thoughts for the Week » Connections or not? (7 July)

Connections or not? (7 July)

Our latest thought for the week has been written by Alan Brand who is a member of the EBA council.

A couple of weeks ago I was preparing to preach on Mark 5.21-43, the Markan sandwich of ‘A Girl Restored to Life and A Woman Healed’. You might like to take a few minutes to watch the Lumo production of that Scripture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RxVxtLtjhw, before reading on.

It’s a familiar passage, maybe even overfamiliar. You know the ‘usual’ teaching points and applications from this Scripture; what I want to share with you is something I realised afresh this time round.

I’ve been trying to dwell in the Scriptures a little more, imagining myself in the story – the smells, noises, feelings, culture, hearing the words, responding to them, considering the events from the perspectives of different characters in the passage … hanging around a little longer than required, to see more than usual.

It struck me that being twelve years old in Jesus’ day was a much more significant stage in life than it is for most twelve year olds in our culture today. Jairus’ daughter was on the cusp of maturity (like being seventeen in our culture), she is about to come of age and take up her responsibilities in the family, in the community.

I imagine she is well loved in the community, everybody knows her and is excited about all she is to become. I imagine, when she became sick, the whole community was in despair – praying, trying everything they could to make her well again. Certainly we know, that her father, Jairus, was prepared to swallow his pride, humble himself, running to Jesus and falling at his feet, pleading with him to come and heal his daughter.

Mark then brings someone else to the fore. A more mature woman who had been bleeding for as long as the girl had been alive. Twelve years is a long time, but in a culture where constant bleeding made you constantly unclean, unable to engage in worship, untouchable – twelve years is a very long time. The woman struggles through the crowd, touches Jesus’ cloak. She is instantly healed, and knows it.

While Jesus is talking with the woman (blessing her with peace and honouring her faith) news comes to Jairus that his daughter has died, best not to bother Jesus any more.  Jesus heads to the house, raises the girl to life, orders her a meal … you know the story, and many of its applications, I’m sure.

What struck me this time round though, was that the young girl, at the centre of her community, had people to advocate for her, people fighting her corner, people prepared to drop everything to find Jesus and plead with him to heal her.

The woman who was marginalised, on the outskirts of the community most of her life; had to break-in through the crowd alone, and touch Jesus herself. Nobody was fighting her corner or pleading with Jesus on her behalf. She was not valued in her community, she was an inconvenience, a problem. She had suffered following every possible avenue to find healing and spent all the money she had.

I marvel at the woman’s strength, her courage in struggling her way through the crowd to Jesus. It’s not too often in my experience, that people on the fringes of the church or beyond, have the courage to come in to the centre of the community to see and touch Jesus.

Maybe they have good reason to expect they will not be made welcome, maybe they will be considered ‘unclean’ by those at the core.

I want my ministry to be marked by not only caring deeply for those within the particular worshipping community I may help to lead, but also by being an ally to those pushed to the margins and walking with those discriminated against, those considered ’other’. I want to foster truly safe environments for all to gather, for all to reach out to Jesus, for all to be touched by him; for all to find life in all its fullness.

As this goes out to you all, I’m praying that you will have the joy of caring for and sharing in the significant life events of those at the heart of your community of faith equipping them to go out and share the love of God. I’m also praying that you will have the joy of connecting in meaningful ways with those outside of your worshipping community; that through listening and loving, eating and drinking, laughing and crying, walking and talking, barriers may be broken down and you may have the joy of seeing people drawn to Jesus.

Image: cropped version of a pixabay picture https://pixabay.com/photos/street-beggar-woman-homeless-2248101/