July 8, 2013 Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time Gn 28:10-22A, Ps 91, Mt 9:18-26 There are many interesting nuggets to be found in the Gospel story today. If you inclined to read along with the other writers you’ll see that Mark and Luke also have version of this story and each one has different details. Matthew’s in the simplest, because his very Jewish audience would understand all of the Jewish customs which Mark and Luke feel they need to explain. One custom that Matthew’s first readers would have understood is that a rabbi like Jesus would normally walk through a crowd flanked by his disciples who would keep anyone from touching him. There were so many ways a rabbi could be made unclean, the disciples would literally create a wall of flesh around the rabbi to keep him from being touched by anyone who would make him unclean and unfit to enter the Temple. Jesus ignores this tradition, or dismisses it, in favor of the opposite. He desires to press the flesh. He wants access to His people and for them to have access to Him. Everyone would have been pushing in to get close to Jesus, to see this man they had heard so much about. All these touches but one stands out. Surely others were sick or needed a blessing? But this one woman came with great faith. “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.” Her faith in Jesus allowed Him to heal her. The other part of the story has Jesus raising a girl from the dead. But I contend that this woman, with a 12 year bleed, was also brought back to life. Her bleeding would have made her one of those unclean people that could so easily spoil a rabbi’s day. For 12 years she would have had no part in the worship of her church. She would have had no interaction with her own clergy. She would have been an outcast almost everywhere she went. But rather than her bleeding making the rabbi Jesus unclean, His cleanliness made her whole again. Yesterday, in the Sunday Gospel, Luke encourages us to go out and heal people in the name of Christ. Today we are given an example of a woman whose church life has been dead for 12 years because of a church rule. Let’s use these two stories as motivation to reach out to those we encounter who have been hurt by some church person or some church rule. Think of a friend or acquaintance you know who used to be involved in a church but no longer is. And think of a way you can invite them to come and worship next weekend. And we will all be blessed. DeaconNick.org
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 04:40:48 +0000
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