“Who touched me?”
Luke 6:46 (NIV)
Sometimes, finding a fresh perspective on a well passage of scripture can be difficult because we see things based on the most common or easiest to see themes. After looking at the events that were taking place when the question of the week was asked, I found a perspective that I haven’t heard taught every often, so let’s get into it.
Jesus and the guys had returned from the region of the Gerasenes – you know the place where the Legion of demons were sent into a herd of pigs. They are met by a crowd who have been waiting for his return. In the midst of this crowd a synagogue leader by the name of Jairus arrives, falling at Jesus’ feet pleading for Jesus to come and heal his twelve-year-old daughter. As Jesus and the guys headed that way, the crowd was pressing in on Jesus (the NIV says the crowd was almost crushing him - Luke 8:42). Into this crushing wave of people, enters a woman. A woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. A woman who would be considered unclean. A woman who would have been cut off from worship and community. A woman who had mustered enough courage to enter the crowd in the hopes of just touching the edge of His cloak. A woman who didn’t want to make a scene or to cause Jesus to become unclean.
A woman who finds success in her mission. Oh the questions! Had she been an outcast for so long that nobody knew her? How did she manage to get through the crowd without touching anyone else? Did she have some divine help in getting to Jesus? Did no one see her touch Jesus?
Jesus felt the healing power go out, so he knew it wasn’t just an ordinary jostling of the crowd. His guys are like are you kidding us, look at all these people touching you as we go. Everyone around Him denied having touched him, at least on purpose. Yet Jesus is looking for the one who did. When I imagine what this scene, at this moment, looks like – I see the crowd part and Jesus sees and the woman sees Jesus and falls at his feet. This woman pours out the truth of the matter. He calls her daughter. The barrier that had kept her from community had been broken by Jesus.
I know some of you are thinking, but this whole story is about faith and healing. You are not wrong in that. Jairus, a respected man, believed that even with the coming of the worst news, that there was still hope. Yes, the woman’s faith helped give her the courage to seek the Master for healing. Yes, both Jairus and the woman got what they had come for. But, the woman got more – the woman got welcomed back into the community after twelve years of being an outcast.
All of us are or have been outcasts in some way at some time. When we decided to follow Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind and strength we stopped being outcasts and became members of the divine Kingdom, daughters and sons of the King. Maybe you felt like an outcast in other ways – the last picked for a recess game of kickball. Maybe you ate lunch alone, until someone decided to take a chance and sit next to you. Jesus was often criticized for hanging out with tax collectors and sinners, they were outcasts. His disciples would never have been picked by the other Rabbis, Jesus ’disciples might have been considered outcasts as well. The reality was that a lot of the religious leaders were outcasts too.
The question for us and the encouragement as well is; how do we treat those who are considered outcasts today? I want to encourage you not to look the other way, to risk sitting down with someone who is struggling in life and listen to their story with the respect due every image bearer. Point them to Jesus, welcome them into the community. We’ll all be better for it and the Kingdom, well the Kingdom will be filled with all the people who are meant to be there and the party is going to be AMAZING.
Let me know your thoughts. Know someone who might be encouraged by this – please share. I will be praying for you. Until next week – Jesus is the One who breaks down the barriers to abundant life and He does so in all sorts of ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment