Scripture Reading: Mark 5:21-43Mark offers two examples of Jesus bringing healing grace to people in need. In both stories, the need was greater than the risk of coming to Jesus. In both stories Jesus seeks out the individual in the crowd. In both stories, Jesus crosses social and religious boundaries to meet people at their point of need. And in both stories, Jesus' presence brought healing, wholeness and peace.
These two stories point to one fantastic truth. Jesus brings the life-giving presence of God to human scenes of despair. Jairus could be any desperately worried parent who ever lived. The woman with the issue of blood could be any marginalized person on the face of the earth. The good news is that Jesus still meets people at their point of need. We don't have to search for him. We don't have to work at seeking God's favor. Instead, Jesus brings healing, wholeness and peace to anyone willing to be found.
This isn't simply something the Church believes about Jesus; it's the madate for the Church's behavior. The Church is God's life-giving presence in the world today. And there are plenty of barriers that get in the way of fulfilling our task. But the Church must find ways of breaking through those barriers to bring healing, wholeness and peace to human scenes of despair.
It's not an easy task. Crossing barriers to meet people at their point of need is a risky proposition. It guarantees that we'll be misunderstood. But Jesus willingly crossed them to meet us at our point of need. As His followers, we must follow His path, no matter where it leads.
1 comment:
I embrace the words of the text. It all seems so right in my spirit. But taking words to action is the struggle. Why is it so difficult? Is it how we are raised, our community / national culture, peer pressure? God help us for we can't seem to help ourselves.
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