Daily Lesson for March 5, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 5 verses 24 through 34:

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years.26She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ 29Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’31And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ 32He looked all round to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

There is healing in the telling of our story. 

The woman in today’s story had been shunned and ostracized for a dozen years. She lived on the outside, the fringe, the place of exclusion. So much so that when she went to see Jesus she dared not talk to him, but instead simply reached out a hand to touch the edge of his garment.

Her body was healed in the touch. Her issue of bleeding had stopped. That would have been enough for her.

But in his wisdom, Jesus knew the one who touched him, who was healed by the power that went out from him, still needed more. And in finding out who she was, he also found out that she needed to talk. She needed to share her story. She needed to speak the pain of her 12 years — its pain, its fear, its bitterness, it’s financial and social ruin. She needed to speak. She needed someone to listen. 

There are stories all around us. Stories of pain and exclusion. Stories of people who have been taken advantage of because of their vulnerability. Stories of a medical system which is often calloused and even ruinous. Stories of women and men daring to reach out and trying to hang on.

It is one thing to heal the body. But the deeper healing often comes in the sharing of story. That is where we are made well. 

My goal for this new week is to listen for one story that needs to be shared, heard, and also believed.