Mark 5:21-34 | I Peter 5:6-11
This is a beautiful section of Mark’s gospel in which there are two stories going on at the same time - the accounts of two people: a young girl and a woman - interspersed among each other. We’ll get back to the young girl tomorrow. Focus on the woman today.
Many people identify with this woman in different ways. She doesn’t want a spectacle with Jesus. She just wants a little piece of him, which for her would be a really big deal. Some people want a spectacle with Jesus, for everyone to know they got a chance at the big time. This isn’t completely bad. But this woman just wanted to be healed. Read her story and imagine her situation - the daily struggle of physical difficulty, the societal shame and isolation…she didn’t want any chance of being seen.
But Jesus noticed her, indeed. And his compassion shines.
Mark 5:21-34
Jesus crossed the lake again, and on the other side a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders, came forward. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded with him, “My daughter is about to die. Please, come and place your hands on her so that she can be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.
A swarm of people were following Jesus, crowding in on him. A woman was there who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a lot under the care of many doctors, and had spent everything she had without getting any better. In fact, she had gotten worse. Because she had heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes. She was thinking, If I can just touch his clothes, I’ll be healed. Her bleeding stopped immediately, and she sensed in her body that her illness had been healed.
At that very moment, Jesus recognized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”
His disciples said to him, “Don’t you see the crowd pressing against you? Yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus looked around carefully to see who had done it.
The woman, full of fear and trembling, came forward. Knowing what had happened to her, she fell down in front of Jesus and told him the whole truth. He responded, “Daughter, your faith has healed you; go in peace, healed from your disease.”
I Peter 5:6-11
Therefore, humble yourselves under God’s power so that he may raise you up in the last day. Throw all your anxiety onto him, because he cares about you. Be clearheaded. Keep alert. Your accuser, the devil, is on the prowl like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith. Do so in the knowledge that your fellow believers are enduring the same suffering throughout the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, the one who called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself restore, empower, strengthen, and establish you. To him be power forever and always. Amen.
Prayer
God,
If Jesus can sense that bold woman’s slight touch in the midst of a bustling crowd, surely you hear my prayer. It’s amazing, really.
As this young week continues, I give you this day. Fill me with your spirit of love. Give me the energy to do that which is in front of me. Be with those I love, not just presence, but in health and care. I also pray for those who are against me. Help me to understand better. Grant those who will come before me today a sighting of Christ through my life, which is to give me wisdom and grace to make righteous choices.
I love you.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.