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Stepping outside (2 June)

‘Being in a crowd was scary, it was a long time since she had ventured outside. ‘I am just woman in a crowd’, she tells herself as she seeks to conceal her face, striving not to be noticed.  Where was he?  How could she find him?  This teacher, this rabbi she had heard so much about.  She’d heard that he had healed a servant without even touching him, she’d heard that a friend’s son had been raised from the dead.  She had to find him now, this was her chance, it had to be today because she couldn’t risk being seen or found by the authorities, she was so unclean.  Then the crowd became excited and was sweeping her along with its own energy.  They all stopped as an important man fell before the Rabbi Jesus and the man began to plead for his sick daughter.  A wave of disappointment flowed over her, oh she had lost the moment, she couldn’t approach Jesus now.

Suddenly she realised that she was really close to Jesus and so she dared to reach out her hand and touch the hem of his garment.  It was the best she could hope for, he would never want to speak to her anyway.  Then the worst and best thing happened all at the same time.  She realised that her bleeding had stopped, her body no longer felt weak and drained, she no longer felt dirty and unclean, his power had surged through her as she had touched his garment, that was the best of feelings.  But then he said ‘Someone touched me’.  She wanted to run, she wanted to hide, how could he even look on her, this seemed like the worst thing to happen.

While his special followers wanted to stop him from finding out who had touched him, Jesus persisted, so in the end shaking from head to toe she declared that she had touched him. Everyone was now looking at her, she felt utterly ashamed.  Jesus however turned and said to her ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace’.  That was the second blessing, her body not only felt strong but her spirit too, her innermost being was restored and made whole by those simple words and it had all come from her courage to leave the house and that one touch of his garment.’

Obviously you will recognise that story, adapted from Luke 8:40-48, one of the many accounts in Luke of how Jesus healed.  I find this account particularly touching, moving and challenging and so as we are now In the wake of Pentecost I have to ask myself and all of us these questions:

What do we expect Jesus to do for us?

What are we willing to ask Jesus to do for us?

What prevents us from even asking?

What courage will we grasp in order to step into his purposes for our lives and know his blessing?