July 1, 2018 | Peggy Lang | Ordinary Time | July 1, 2018

Mark 5:24b-34Peggy follows Dave’s message from last week with another very familiar passage from Mark’s gospel – the woman who’s had a 12-year flow of blood, pushes through the crowd jostling around Jesus, touches the fringe of His garment, and is healed. Initially she is unnoticed by Jesus, until He perceives that healing power has gone forth. There are so many unanswered questions in these verses from Mark 5:24b-34: How old was this woman? Was she married? What had caused her condition? What treatments had the doctors tried, that left her worse off? How did Jesus know healing power had gone forth from Him? How did the woman feel, having to describe to the whole crowd what her health issue had been, now that she’d been healed? Was anybody else in the crowd healed of their particular disease as they crowded in on Him? This passage leaves our curiosity unsatisfied. But God’s heart for His people is clear, and that’s what Peggy makes space for this Sunday as we come to the Table. That we would encounter this caring, compassionate, restorative God, then be agents of that restorative shalom for others as we do our everyday lives.