The touch of Jesus

Mark 5:21-43

21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” 35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” 36 Overhearing[a] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” 37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

When she was an infant, Ashley Rose Murphy was extremely sick. Murphy was born with HIV, which she contracted from her late birth mother. After spending over three months in a coma, she was placed into palliative care, taken in by adoptive parents, and given just weeks to live. Over 18 years later, the teen is very much alive and making her voice heard as a fierce advocate for HIV awareness. Murphy says the widespread fear of HIV stems from a lack of knowledge, which is why she speaks so openly about it. She speaks at school and conferences to educate both kids and adults about the virus, so they understand what it is and what it's like to live with it. Sometimes the worst part of the suffering is the stigma derived from the attitude of people around, and sometimes coming from religious people.

In the gospel of Mark, we find a story about a woman affected by a health issue and the stigma derived. "And there was a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years" (v. 25). This woman has suffered at the hands of many doctors, who took her money without curing her. Her circumstances are very different from Jairo's. Her discharge, probably her vaginal discharge, ritually defiles her, isolating her from all human contact. Not only is she considered defiled or impure, but her touch also defiles anyone she touches. She dirties even the bed in which she sleeps and the chair in which she sits, and these then transmit her impurity to whoever touches them (Lev. 15: 25-30). Given the ease with which a man can divorce his wife (see Matthew 5:31), it seems likely that her husband would have divorced her long ago. Her condition would make it impossible for her to find a job as a domestic servant. Ironically, her condition renders her unable to attend Jairus' synagogue (Cousar, 410). Her situation is like that of a leper (see 1:40-45). She is completely isolated from any social contact. This type of isolation must be almost unbearable. This woman is an "outsider" - a person she does not count, that she does not belong with. 

"When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind her among the company and touched her garment" (v. 27). Jairus approached Jesus directly, face to face, but this woman approached Jesus from behind, hidden in the crowd. She believes that just by touching Jesus' garment, she will be cured (v. 28). Having had to avoid touching others for so many years, it would take a lot of effort on her part to reach out and touch Jesus' garment. Although she may have heard the story of Jesus touching a leper (1:41), it would be difficult to imagine that Jesus would invite her touch. However, "Instead of impurity passing from the woman to Jesus, the power to heal flows from Jesus to the woman". Immediately upon touching Jesus' garment, "the fountain of her blood dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed from that scourge" (v. 29). Jesus realizes what virtue has come out of him and asks, "Who touched my dress?" (v. 30). Hearing this, the disciples think it is an unreasonable question, considering the crowd around him. However, the woman falls before Jesus and tells him the whole truth (v. 33). Jesus says, "Daughter, your faith has saved you: she sees in peace, and she is healed from your scourge" (v. 34). Notice that, by touching her clothes, she was healed of her illness. But only after she presents herself to Jesus does he say, "Daughter, your faith has saved you (sozo - has saved you)" (Williamson, 110).

Notice the relationship between faith and saving. "Daughter, your faith has made you saved" (v. 34). In the next chapter, Jesus will visit his hometown, where he will be unable to do any works of power because of the people's unbelief (6:1-6). The power by which Jesus heals is the power of God. The individual's faith, however, is an important component of receiving God's blessing. The word "daughter" may sound a little paternal to those of us in the 21st century, but in the time of Jesus, it was a normal way of address. The use of the word reflects a care and acceptance that this woman will not have felt for a long time - a daughter is a loved one of a family. In this context, "daughter" is a saving word.

Sometimes, a social miracle in our lives, and Jesus touches our lives not just to heal us physically, but also socially. Our society has a lot of stigmas, a lot of them coming from a misunderstanding of incomplete explanations about religious conceptions. People mistreat others based on their comprehension of doctrine, practices, and even rituals, but what about Jesus? What does Jesus really do? In the Bible, Jesus shows us an inclusive love where the universal call for salvation represents an opportunity to create spaces for inclusion. Migrants, minorities, poor, or sick, they are people rejected due to their conditions, and sometimes they aе mistreated due to negative stigmas created by societies full of codes of power and discrimination. In the national Indigenous History month, we must recognize that these tracks are part of our history.

The good thing for us is Wesley talks about Social Holiness through which invite us to live our holiness not alone but in community and as people who regenerate not facilities but lives. Jesus touched people around him, it doesn't matter their conditions, He walked with poors, sicks, discriminated, how can we live in such a way that we can honor this teaching coming from Jesus' practice. Theology is not just about knowledge, but about experiences and attitudes. When we are challenged to recognize our own weaknesses as human beings through illness and other pain, we can remember all the pain experienced by many people around the world who are affected not just by personal sins but structural sin, which is disseminated through the system and relationships. 

In 1846, Ignaz Semmelweis realized doctors could prevent disease by washing their hands and sterilizing instruments between patients. As Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis made his rounds through the maternity wards at the General Hospital of Vienna in 1846, he made an astonishing discovery. The discovery meant that doctors were previously responsible for causing deaths related to postpartum infections, and Semmelweis made enemies as he ridiculed professionals who didn't agree with his protocols. Doctors eventually stopped washing their hands with chlorine, and Semmelweis lost his job. He was placed in an institution after developing mental health problems at age 47 and eventually passed from sepsis,  the same type of severe, systemic infection he tried to cure years ago.

We need to assume the hope of the Gospel; we need to be touched by Jesus to heal because He is the only one capable of healing us as individuals and as a society. As the women in the Gospel of Mark, we must be delivered to the world, clean and restored in Jesus' name.