June 29, 2003

Fourth Sunday of Pentecost

Mark 5:21-34

 “Watts Up?”

     A doctor that makes house calls is a rare bird these days.  Well, one of those rare birds is here today, paying a call to God’s house - my father and mother are with us for worship.  The grandparents have come to call because by this evening, the grandchildren will all be home at the same time…for a few days…  and that’s a rare thing, too.  Christina flew in from Florida on Monday and Matt flew in from St Louis Friday evening.  Jon flies in from Alaska tonight. 

     Jesus wasn’t trained as a doctor but because he healed so many people, he has sometimes been called the Great Physician.  Mark’s lesson for today is about Jesus making a house call.  A young girl was gravely ill and her father had come to Jesus begging for help.  A large crowd tagged along, some of them hoping to see him fail, some hoping to see him succeed and most of them probably just curious. 

     There was one woman in the crowd, however, who came for a different reason.  She was suffering from something that caused her to bleed continuously for twelve years.  My father might have some idea what her problem was, but I just know it was a problem big enough to make her want to reach out in desperation to Jesus.  The religious laws of the day had marked her as perpetually unclean.  As long as she was bleeding, she was not supposed to be touched by anyone.  Her unfortunate malady made her an outcast.  The gospels of Mark and Matthew both give us the impression that she was poor because she had seen a lot of doctors and they had taken all her money.  Luke tells the same story but leaves this part out.  Interesting.  Luke was a doctor, you know.  Maybe he was afraid of malpractice lawsuits!
     We can see how desperate the poor woman was when we see her plan unfold.  She worked her way into the crowd.  She looked for Jesus, listened for him and when the opportunity came, reached through the bodies around him in the hope of at least brushing the tips of her fingers on the hem of his robe.

     Could she have imagined what happened next?  She was healed immediately.  Jesus stopped right in his tracks.  “Who touched me?“ he asked.  He felt it.  He knew it.  But how could he?  The disciples wondered.  There were so many people pushing and pressing against him, trying to be close.  But Jesus knew.  He said something mysterious we find nowhere else in all the scriptures: “I felt power flow from me.”  He went on, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”  The desperation of her faith had become a channel for the healing power of Christ.

     How could power have flowed from Jesus?  Did his batteries drain?  How many watts were consumed?  Silly questions, but something powerful and power-filled did happen there.  Power flowed from Jesus to the woman and she was healed.

     We learn something here about the power of faith.  It’s not better to give than to receive - it’s better to do both.

     A desperate woman came to Jesus to receive whatever healing he might give, to tap into the power of God that seemed to radiate from him.  Even the touch of a hem would be enough.  She was faithfully and fully receptive to Christ and the power flowed freely.  She believed it was possible and as Jesus once said, all things are possible for those that believe.  It was so good to receive the healing of the Great Physician.

     But the story is also about giving.  Power went from Jesus into the woman’s life.  Her receiving was possible only because of his giving.  This giving is what we call divine grace and it finds its most powerful expression in the cross.  There Jesus gave it all, gave his very life for the people he loves, healing for sin and death, the gift of forgiveness and life eternal.  It is so good to receive this gift of salvation.  It is so good that Jesus so willingly gives it.

     Do you see the rhythm of grace here?  Giving makes receiving possible and receiving empowers giving.  The rhythm of grace is where goodness fills need and satisfied want inspires gratitude and the cycle continues.  It is a rhythm set in motion and encouraged by a good and gracious God.  And how good it is for everyone when that rhythm just flows.

     I still remember a neighbor we once had that overflowed with graciousness.  She appreciated every small gesture of kindness we made to her and would always return the favor, not because she felt she owed us something but because she wanted to.  We were in sync.  There was a good and gracious rhythm there.  We’ve had a lot of neighbors over the years (Kay would say too many!) but few of them made that kind of lasting positive impression.

     I wish I could say people always make lasting positive impressions on each other.  We don’t, of course.  We aren’t always the best of neighbors.  We all too easily lose the rhythm and get out of sync with each other and God.  We get too busy.  We get preoccupied.  Someone does something nice for us and we forget to say thank you.  Jesus gives his life for us and we appreciate it but don’t let the power of the gift sink in and thus can’t make much of a faithful response.  The gracious rhythm of giving and receiving, receiving and giving is disrupted.  Something is wrong.  Something is broken.  And like the woman who suffered for so long, our disharmony can even alienate us, keep us apart. 

     We need healing, too, need to be made whole and have our lives, our families, our communities restored.  We need to seek out the Great Physician, to reach for him through the crowded circumstances of our lives, through all the cluttered busyness and touch that hem, absorb that power.

     There is power there for us, the power of his touch, healing.  It is just a prayer away, a reach away.  Jesus offers us the healing of forgiveness, spiritual wellness and perhaps even the miracle of physical healing.  Certainly, he gives us the peace and faith capacity to deal with our physical limitations in positive and productive ways, the courage and inspiration to make the most of whatever situation we find ourselves in.  That’s healing - wellness with purpose.  And that leads me to this point - Christ’s touch upon our lives is purposeful.  We ain’t just on the receiving end here, folks.  We don’t come to church to just get a little spiritual gas in our tanks.  This isn’t just a filling station.  Healing has purpose.  Grace calls upon grace.

     Blessing is offered to you.  How can you bless others?  The gift is extended to you.  How can you be a gift to others?  Through Jesus Christ, God is gracious with you.  How can others be empowered through the touch of your faith?