Who touched me?

Mark 5:25-34 The woman who was healed when she touched Jesus robe.

There are so many thoughts that well up as I consider this message.

Firstly, how did this woman know she would be healed by touching Jesus' robe?

Most of the miraculous healings in the gospels took place with some form of interaction between Jesus and the sufferer.

Yet this lady seemed to have no opportunity to approach Jesus due to the great crowd. Like Zaccheus, she had to think of something on the run.

Zaccheus decided he would climb a tree.

This lady decided she would touch Jesus' robe.


Faith directed her mind.

What is this faith?

It is a special part of a human being.

We all have some faith in something(s).

No matter how talented we are, faith is needed to express or exercise that gift.

At some point we take the plunge.
To some it seems obvious, to others risky, but either way, a chance is taken, based not on scientific reason, logic or proof, only trust, or maybe a hunch. This faith is also coupled with hope. It must overcome fear and self-doubt. This implies that courage and faith are connected.

Trust may be placed in something someone else has told us, or something we understand inside our hearts.

That trust can be broken or disappointed. But true trust in Jesus never disappoints.

This lady, somewhere inside herself, in the face of realizing she would not be able to present herself to Jesus in the expected manner for someone seeking help, somewhere deep inside, she was inspired. "Just touch him. If you can just touch him you will be healed".

Was this the Holy Spirit inspiring her. Was it God the Father, Was it simply the awesome presence of Jesus himself ?
It was all of these things, and it was none.
It was in fact, her faith, which we understand is a gift from God, but a mysterious and powerful gift that is only present in it's exercise.

And so this woman somehow squeezed through the crowd, reached as far as she could, and at just the right moment, the tips of her fingers brushed the edge of his robe. Nothing very significant. Just a tiny act of faith. Unlikely to be felt by Jesus. But immediately she knew and felt in her body that she was fully healed. All the money, all the effort, all the faith she had place in her previous efforts to receive healing by more accepted ways had failed, but this little act of faith, which cost nothing but  the effort required to reach through a crowd, had achieved everything she had ever hoped or dreamed.

How interesting it is that Jesus felt power go out of him.

I used to read this in my "superhero mind-set", thinking Jesus had a certain amount of energy which could be sapped out of him leaving him weakened. A bit like "kryptonite".
But that is me reading Hollywood into the scriptures.

Is it not possible for Jesus to feel power go out of him yet still be full of power?

It is clear that Jesus not only "speaks healing" but imparts something of himself to those he heals. Something more than words leave his body. Something that can be transmitted through touch. Yet Jesus can heal without physically touching, as he did with the centurion's servant.

But Jesus always knows when he has healed, even if he doesn't always know who he has healed, not immediately anyway.

In the crowd he could not pick out the woman, or so it seems.

Maybe he did know. Maybe it was important for the woman to publicly acknowledge her healing.

Maybe, if she had slipped away anonymously, she would have always felt uneasy about her healing, as though she had received it illegally, without the true favour of Jesus, the Messiah.

In that moment when the woman realized she was found out, what were her thoughts?

Was she now to lose her healing?
Was she to be publicly humiliated for her impetuous action?

She fell on her knees trembling with fear. She humbly confessed her action prompted by faith; faith in Jesus.

Instead of rebuking, Jesus reassures and comforts her.
He addresses her as "daughter"( Implying "daughter of Abraham", "daughter of faith", "daughter of God")
And he explains that her own faith actually healed her! Time and again we see Jesus explaining to the healed sufferer, that it is their faith, not Jesus alone, that has healed them, or maybe even not Jesus at all?

He cheerfully dismisses her with his blessing. She is forever reassured about her own faith and the love of Jesus.

The "C" word

I'm not sure if I've already blogged about this.
It comes up in my thoughts regularly.
"Compromise".

As true followers of Jesus, I think it is something we are called to practice.

This will offend and anger many.

By compromise, I do not mean water down our faith, or turn truth into relative truth. Change the meaning of scripture, or delete passages from the bible.

Keith Green's famous biography is called "No compromise".

I love that book.

How I interpret that title is more like "Never denounce your faith, no matter what"

But compromise, to me, means doing without things that seem important but are not.

Compromise will allow different denominations to fellowship together.

Compromise is contrary to the "I'm right theologically, therefore I am better than you" attitude.

When Peter drew away from the uncircumcised christians described in Galations, he was being uncompromising in his view of circumcision. Paul confronted him about this.

Freedom in Christ means we are free to do and free not to do.

So in Christ, I am free to sing hymns with an organ even if I prefer electric guitar.

In Christ I am free to listen to a female preacher, even if I hold to Paul's teaching in Timothy.

In Christ I am free to "sign the cross" as a catholic, even if I am not currently catholic.

In Christ I am free to attend a church where I may disagree with some of the tenets of that  denomination.

In Christ, I am free to accept those who call themselves His disciples, as brethren, even if they do not see me as brethren.

In Christ I am free to save my personal sharing of the hope that I hold onto, in Christ, for that special moment when someone asks me to share with them why I am the way that I am.

 When I am feeling judged in my christian expression, by other christians, it hurts. If I listen to Christ's teaching about treating others as I would like to be treated, then I would prefer that I be accepted by other christians, as I am, and that out of love for me, they would pray for my maturation in faith, trusting that God will speak to me, from his word, from the pulpit, or privately by someone motivated by the love of Christ, to show me where I am failing.

There are so many areas we are free to compromise.
If I attend an islamic wedding, am I denying Christ?
If I pray with or for someone of a different faith, am I denying Christ?
If I only ever pray for someone else to come to a saving faith, without ever breaching theological discussion, am I denying Christ?
If I continually tell people that they are lost unless they trust Jesus, but never associate with them, unless they agree, and come to church, am I truly loving them?
If I truly believe I am theologically correct on most important matters, does that make me better than those with differing views?

By attending a church I didn't feel was my theologically ideal church for many years, I feel as though I have learned that compromise, meaning, not continually looking for fault in others views, but celebrating the truths that we share and express in different ways, and accepting that we can't see eye to eye on everything, is a valuable and good way to fellowship.

We should not force others out of their comfort zone, nor should we feel forced to do something we believe is wrong.

The Holy Spirit is powerful. More powerful than us. He has authority. We often don't.
Yes, we can quote the scriptures. So can Satan.
Our calling is in obeying the scriptures. Not pointing out everyone's faults.

I love guitars. I've realized lately, there is no perfect guitar. There are great guitars, and really great guitars, but no perfect guitars. Ordinary guitars are still able to lead a group of singers quite well.
Perfect guitars, if they exist, are kept locked away and are seldom played.

There is no perfect church or denomination. Every time we walk into a church we are possibly compromising.

Yet those imperfect churches are still loving people and celebrating God's great news of forgiveness.

As I write this I think about some "churches" I would not attend.
And my views on marriage. And on the sanctity of life.
I guess there are some things I can't compromise.

Dr Thomas

Today the lectionary was from the end of John's Gospel. A famous section describes how Thomas refused to believe in the resurrection unless he himself was able to put his finger in the nail holes and his hands in his side.
As a doctor, I treat wounds, and I have certainly put my fingers and hands inside peoples bodies.
It is not necessarily a pleasant experience for the patient, but, they are usually compliant, seeing the necessity of the examination. Because it hurts, we usually anaesthetise the area before examining it thoroughly.
What of Jesus wounds?
Did they hurt?
Were they caked in dried blood?
Religious art has usually depicted the wounds as fresh, with the redness of internal flesh visible.
But how these wounds truly appeared after the resurrection is hard to fathom. Thomas knows. The disciples knew.
Medically, for someone who survives a wound such as that caused by a large nail through a hand or wrist, assuming infection was controlled, at one week, the wound would be closing, or closed, and healing. There would still be some proud flesh, and scab, but fresh blood would only be present after physically disturbing the wound.
But what of the resurrected body?
It must be different in many ways, but it must also be the same in some ways.
We only have Jesus to consider.
Christians believe in a physical resurrection. The tomb was empty, Jesus did not leave his body behind when he rose. His whole body rose. It's not that he "recovered", implying that he somehow "escaped" death's clutches, like a calf escaping the lions claws. (If it was so, it would mean that the lion could potentially recapture the calf).
No, Jesus actually defeated death. The lion was somehow destroyed by the calf, and this destroying calf is now stronger than all lions. Jesus is no longer able to die. Death is now dead to Jesus. Jesus is resurrected. His body has completely undergone the death effect to it's full degree, whatever that implies, and has risen, conquering the power of death. Death is no longer the master of Jesus body.
After the resurrection, Jesus was still a man. He was able to talk to Mary in the garden and be mistaken for the gardener. He was a stranger walking beside the disciples on the road to Emmaus. He was on the shore cooking fish while Peter and John fished. He ate. These are all fairly normal things we do as non resurrected beings.
But he was also able to appear and disappear when doors were locked. But he made it very clear he was not a ghost. We are mistaken if we think we would be able to see through Jesus or put our hands through a shadowy figure. If we tried, we would hit solid flesh. Jesus body. Which was alive and risen, and better than ever. Jesus made sure the disciples knew he was made of flesh and bones.
He was able to rise up to heaven. And remains physically in heaven. But that does not mean he has no mass.
But what of his wounds?
Revelations speaks of a lamb that looked as though it had been slain, yet it was alive.
This could only mean that there were mortal wounds visible. This lamb is poetic for the risen Jesus.
Are we then imagining the horror movie zombies that continue to walk despite being shot through, with semi decayed bodies resembling corpses?
No, resurrected bodies must be better than our mortal bodies, by faith we believe this. Paul strongly implies the great superiority of our resurrected bodies at the end of 1 Corinthians. And John says that when we see him (at his return) we will be like him. Meaning we are transformed into resurrected bodies like Jesus. This will happen in the twinkling of an eye, meaning a sudden amazing transformation.
Yet we are still faced with the unhealed wounds of Jesus. The "Emblems".
I have no answers. Those wounds are there for us. They are one of the guarantees of our own future resurrection.
I don't think anyone else, resurrected, will have wounds. Only Jesus. Only his wounds are worthy.

He came to Jesus at night. John 3:2

This is the account of Nicodemus, leading to the famous declaration of Jesus that you must be born again to enter the kingdom of God.

But in this comment, I want to highlight, not the point that night time suggests Nicodemus was hoping to approach and decipher for himself who Jesus was under the relative anonymity of nighttime cover, but that Jesus actually made himself available for scrutiny to someone who was not necessarily on side, at an ungodly hour.
How often do we seek Jesus at untimely hours? Times that suit us because they are our time of need, but don't necessarily suit Jesus.
I am biased. I work in a job that involves the occasional call out at ungodly hours. No matter how serious the reason for the call out, I never enjoy getting out of bed when duty calls. and if you want to taste the less savoury side of my personality, call me out at 1 or 2am and, believe me, politeness is not a priority. 

Why does Jesus bother to speak to Nicodemus? Why didn't he put the discussion off to a more reasonable hour? Was Jesus entitled to some down time, away from theological arguments? It seems that Jesus made no complaint at being approached as he was, after dark. In a sense he took the subordinate role. Although from our perspective, Jesus was superior in every sense, he was probably younger than Nicodemus, and had no recognised teaching authority as a son of a carpenter. Still, Jesus could have refused to speak with him. But he didn't. Nor does he take the easy path in dealing with Nicodemus's questions. He explains very exactly, though in words that are too deep for Nicodemus, how it is that a person can recognise the action and authority of God. Only by being born again. Nicodemus tries to demystify what Jesus says, but is unsuccessful. Yet somehow those words have an effect on him, and I have a very strong sense that Nicodemus was a true believer soon after that encounter. After all, was it not the Holy Spirit who "blew" Nicodemus into Jesus that night?

Maybe like Nicodemus, as I lie sleepless in the dark, I also want to approach Jesus, to ask him to make sense of my life and struggles, and give me peace and motivation to continue in the journey of faith in this world.

I trust that Jesus is still willing to take questions and commune with questioners, even total strangers with preconceived ideas, at hours well after dark.

By the way, I don't think anyone can clearly explain what being "born again" really means. Yes we experience rebirth, it is essential to our life of faith, but It's certainly not something we can accomplish by our own means, no more than we can accomplish our natural birth. Experiencing rebirth does not make us experts in it. Babies are definitely passive participants in the birth process, I have delivered many. Although every woman was once born herself, that does not make her less nervous giving birth. It is all in God's hands, yet we do participate, sometimes in vital ways.

Here I Am

These words are found a few times in both the old testament and the new testament.
Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, David in the Psalms, and Jesus, attributed to him in Hebrews, and in Revelations, all say these words in response to the Father.
They are words that are accompanied by action and are spoken in the presence of God.
The words are not intended simply to reveal the speakers location, like in a game of hide and seek. They are actually an announcement of a willing servant ready to listen and follow orders. Like a soldier volunteering for duty, no matter how dangerous.
When he was about to be tested and then, when he was about to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham heard his name called by the angel of God, and he replied "here I am".
Samuel was asleep before the ark of God, when he arose to his name and went to Eli three times with the same response, the last time Eli explained that it was in fact God calling, and the appropriate response was "Speak Lord for your servant is listening".
When Isaiah heard the proclamation "whom shall I send?", his reply was "Here I am, send me"
And Jesus in Hebrews as well as in the psalm states "Here I am, I have come to do your will".
Wonderful deep words that speak of the humble obedience of those who trust God.
But in reality, it is a big struggle to joyfully obey for even the most devoted Christian.
That adds to the beauty and grace of the words in Hebrews, "Here I am, and the children you have given me".
Those children are people like us. People who believe in Jesus. Who love him because we somehow have realized what a wonerful thing he has done for us by giving himself up to die on a cross.
Somehow, but without doubt, he took us up into that cross, we died with him, crucified, and have been given a full share of his obedience. He can, and does do this. His perfect "Here I am" becomes our perfect "Here I am".
This is a gift.
The gift is servanthood.
All God's children are servants.
Let us serve one another, humbly and joyfully.
We truly have a magnificent Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Crowds

We are like sheep.
That's not a bad thing. It's human. (or ovine?!!:))
Crowds/numbers have an effect on us.
I haven't read the literature but I suspect that we prefer to be part of a group than on our own in many situations, especially strange or tricky situations. We certainly don't like being singled out.
Recently I caught a domestic flight with my wife. For the first time we used the passport app on my phone.
I had grave doubts about whether we would be allowed on the flight. I wanted to join the queue and check-in, in the usual way. It took a lot of persuasion from my wife to stop me from following the crowd. It did work! But, like a sheep, I didn't want to be different.
I have seen footage and read stories about the holocaust. People being herded like cattle, on and off train carriages and into the gas chambers. And sadly I have seen recent similar footage, apparently from Iraq, of mass shootings. I am very disturbed at the thought of such suffering, and loss of life.
It does makes me wonder whether, even in death, there may be some form of security in being with the crowd.
On a positive note, there is probably an added element of exhilaration at a packed concert with a heightened level of anticipation and excitement for the event which relates to the sheer numbers of like mined people. I certainly experienced a crowd related high as I waited  to start the city to surf recently. In church too, there is added security when many are present, and definitely, an augmentation of the singing occurs in a large congregation.
I will add here that when Jesus told his disciples that they would be fishers of men, he probably was talking about fishing nets more than fishing lines, implying that the catch would be plentiful, not one at a time.
Having said this I want to now make my point.
Our salvation, in Jesus, does not depend on crowd movement.
Gods word, I believe, comes to us personally and individually. We may be in a crowd of thousands, but when God speaks to us it is basically one to one. Or more theologically, triune to one.
We are not responding in our spirits to a general idea or mass heavenly advertisement. We are obeying a personal call, however that may come to us.
We are not limited to responding in a situation of mass hysteria or even genuine mass conversion, though God may come to us at such times and speak to us personally.
Like the lost sheep (singular for this situation) the good shepherd will leave the 99 to find the one.
It is great to be part of a large congregation, but God is not limited to numbers and large numbers/popularity does not prove something to be of God or not of God.
It is rare for a sheep to step out of line. But conviction will sometimes lead a person to stand out of the crowd no matter how uncomfortable that may feel.
The word of God sometimes leads us to stand out, even to suffer.
Thankfully, in that situation, we are never alone. He will never leave us or forsake us.

Unity/Community

These thoughts are simply my own reflections on the (sad) fact of multiple denominations of Christian fellowship.

When Paul was travelling and broadcasting the news of who Jesus is and what he has done, and people were experiencing bursting faith and coming together for learning, sharing, caring and maturing, I imagine that every new believer was welcomed into the fold with gladness and joy.

I would find it hard to imagine one group of believers, in those early days, meeting 3 doors down from another group, never combining to celebrate their common joy of forgiveness. Never even darkening one another's doorways, and, worse still, competing for members, criticizing each other and generally being suspicious and derogatory.

Today, sadly, we have blocks of real estate with often 3 or more church buildings, on various corners, each presenting their own version of fellowship at similar times on Sundays.

Obviously, I can't change history in four short paragraphs.

But I do have a vision for combined services on certain days of the year, which particularly include communion.

I think the denominations could suffer each others company for one or two Sundays a year and have shared communion.

I know that communion varies a lot between the churches, and there would be major theological arguments as to how to do it, and who could legally officiate.

But the truth is that communion is the most important meal we celebrate as Christians, and the Lord allowed even Judas, who he knew would betray him, to take part in the original last supper.

If we do not recognize the body of the Lord, we eat and drink judgement on ourselves, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:29. My interpretation of this verse is that the "body" is actually us, the people who make up the gathering, and all those gatherings around us, across the road, down the street, and in neighbouring towns etc. And what we do to the least of His disciples we do to Him!

Financially, theologically, socially, and practically it could be done; major services that celebrate communion interdenominationally, maybe out doors so the world can watch, and join in.

We could do it.

If we want to.