“Fueled by faith”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Luke 8: 40-56 (Forward, p. 78) CEV p. 1069
Wonderous things, wonderous things indeed: this is what today’s passage recounts. And yet, it would have been so easy for them not to have happened in the first place. All that it would have required is a lack of faith on the part of several people. The woman who’d been hemorrhaging for twelve long years could have easily given up on a cure. After all, she had spent all her money on doctor’s fees and was none the better for it. So, why would she think that Jesus could do any better?
And yet, she persisted—and more! Normally, with this disgraceful and socially offensive condition, she would have not shown herself in public, and yet she did. And, certainly, in her unclean state, she should not have touched the clothing of Jesus, even something as seemingly inconsequential as the hem of His garment. And yet she did touch it, firmly believing that even the merest of touches would make a difference. Such was her faith. And, truth be told, it did make a difference. Jesus felt the power flow out of His body, and indeed, the woman was instantly healed.
And the father of the recently deceased young woman, Jairus, could have easily given up as hopeless any future prospect for his daughter when he’d received word that she had just died. After all, any reasonable person would have done just that. A finding of death is normally considered ‘it’, final. No wonder the crowd of mourners laughed at Jesus when He suggested otherwise. But the girl’s father was not deterred and neither was Jesus. The girl’s father allowed Him to do ahead, and oh, what a wonderful miracle took place. And so, such is the power of our faith, our trust in Jesus, if only we would unlock it and let it have its impact. If only we would more consistently place our trust in Jesus, listen to Him, obey Him, and let Him do His work. Amen.
Forward notes: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace” (verse 48).
“A lot of our outreach ministries are more compassion-oriented than justice-oriented. For instance, compassion ministries may include volunteering at a soup kitchen once a year as a church to address hunger for that day. Justice ministries start with the question, ‘Why are there so many hungry people?’ and then work on ending hunger in the community. Justice ministries focus on restoring people into the community from the fringes and margins.
“I feel Jesus acted with justice in his encounter with the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. This bleeding made her ceremonially unclean, and most likely, she was not accepted as a full member of the community. She probably had been pushed further and further into the fringes and margins.
“When Jesus heals her, he calls her ‘daughter.’ By calling her ‘daughter,’ Jesus brings her from the margins and places her right in the middle of the community, restoring her rightful place in her society.”
Moving Forward: “Do you engage in more compassion-oriented ministries or justice-oriented ones? Do you think there is a difference?”
A concluding note or two: I think that our author has missed the point somewhat. Calling the woman ‘daughter’ did not bring her from the margins and back into her rightful place in society. It was her healing that accomplished that. And there really wasn’t a question of justice about it at all: a bodily discharge of any sort, be it blood or any other fluid, was seen as ominous, as something dangerous, by others—as well they should—in this society where medical practice and knowledge were rather limited. These things were seen as contaminating to the general population and so the individual suffering from them was basically quarantined. There was nothing of injustice or justice about it: it was just wise public health policy.