My kids love to go out to eat for their birthday. Their favorite place is any Japanese steak house. The birthday meal isn’t complete until all the waiters and waitresses surround them and sing in celebration for their special day. Well, I went out to lunch for my birthday. My friend mentioned it was my special day, and the waiter said he’d be right back with “something.”
Boy, was I excited, because I knew “something” would include whipped cream. You should have seen my face, which I hid behind my hands, when the group showed up singing. I had forgotten about the singing.
Loudly.
And way too slowly.
I wanted the something special without all the hoopla and celebration. In today’s reading we meet a woman who desperately wanted Jesus’ power. She knew it would heal her, but she just didn’t want the hoopla. I often thought what she would have missed out on if Jesus didn’t take the time to make her acknowledge her healing miracle.
Once again during your reading today, seek what God is saying to you in this moment. Which words touch or even irritate you? Ponder the words that stick out to you even if at first you really wonder why.
21When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." Mark 5:21-34
Silence – Read – Reflect – Respond – Rest - Resolve
Benner says in Surrender to Love , "Jesus welcomes us with love that invites intimacy. He invites us to give up our isolation, our striving, to relinquish control of our lives. In its place he offers rest, fulfillment, and discovery of our true and deepest self in Christ."
· Many different people sought out Jesus’ healing powers and approached him in as many different ways. He knows everything about you, but what areas do you still want to fix before you let Him see them?
· What do you secretly want fixed and put away without ever dealing with again? (Freely answer and ponder this one for yourself – even a blabber mouth like me has some things just between God and me. Thinking through this helps you know yourself better.)
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