Instruction
Scripture: Mark 5:21-43
The miracles that Mark recorded in this section of his
Gospel precede the account of Jesus’ rejection in his hometown, showing that
the miracles themselves did not create faith in people, but only raised
attention for Jesus to proclaim the word that creates faith. We return to this
passage where the girl and woman were healed, this time looking more closely at
the woman. Her healing was different than most healings as she initiated it and
it took place, ostensibly, without Jesus’ awareness until after the fact. This
healing shows the importance of faith in receiving the gifts God so generously
gives.
Teaching
The woman with the flow of blood was desperate. Her illness
separated her from her family and community as her touch would make a person
ritually unclean. Her very presence in the crowd was risky, and would have been
offensive to the people around her. We should note that her touch does not make
Jesus unclean. In fact, it works the other way around. Touching the Holy One
makes her clean, whole, and healed. This is how it is when a sinner with faith
comes into contact with Jesus in the word, Baptism, or the Lord’s Supper; it
makes us clean, forgives our sins, and marks us as holy.
Life
Where do we touch the hem of Jesus’ robe? Where do we come
into contact with him? As we read his word, his Spirit is there. When we were
baptized, Jesus cleansed us. When we receive the Lord’s Supper, we touch Jesus’
body and blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins. When we gather for worship
and two or three gather in his name, he is there. Think on these things the
next time you come to worship and see how Jesus graces you with his presence to
heal you from your sin, shame, illness, and pain.
Prayer
This prayer combines
the themes of Thanksgiving and Petition
O Lord Jesus, thank you for healing the woman with the
discharge of blood. Thank you for having compassion on her, knowing her need,
restoring her, and praising her faith. Thank you for your holy presence that is
at work in us to make us holy. Thank you for not rejecting our unclean touch,
but accepting us, you cleanse us of sin and its stain. Thank you. Thank you for
giving us faith to take hold of your promises so that we too will be healed of
all illness, cleansed of all disease, and purified of all sin; if not in this
life, then in the life to come.
Lord, please grant us your Holy Spirit to strengthen our
faith so that we will all the more boldly take hold of you in your word and
Sacraments. Let nothing keep us from running to you to at least touch the hem
of your robes so we will be healed. Help us to live as your present messengers
to people in this world so that they too may take hold of you to be healed.
Give us courage to not resist the touch of people that this world would shun;
those that bear a wide variety of shames, stigmas, and sins. Instead, let us,
filled with your Spirit, reach out to them, love them, have compassion for
them, and offer them the word that creates faith so they may lay hold of you.
Let us see healings in our lives: healings of broken hearts, troubled
marriages, diseased bodies, fractured relationships, and sinful lives. Grant us
the joy of seeing how you restore people through faith. In your blessed name we
pray. Amen.
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