The 6th Sunday after Pentecost

Proper 8B

Mark 5:21-43

St. Matthias

July 1, 2018

I learned something new this week!  We have all seen Fireflies in the summertime.  I used to watch them in my Grandparents backyard in Mansfield, Louisiana which was huge to me, and it seemed like there were thousands of lightning bugs.  Now what I learned this week is that Fireflies actually communicate through their lights.  Fireflies in sync with another know they are from the same species.  This is why you will often times see a group of Fireflies all blinking at the same time and if you watch long enough, the number and light will grow larger and larger.  This is particularly important because some species eat other species and the larger the size of the light in a field, the more protection.

Now when I discovered this fun fact this week – the story from our Gospel lesson made more sense.  Here we have a story within a story.  Mark begins with Jarius, a leader in the synagogue, whose daughter is very sick.  He has come to beg for Jesus’ help.  Now there is a large crowd following Jesus and Jarius to the Jewish leader’s house and now is when we hear the second story.  This is the one I have thought a lot about this week.  I understand the message behind the story of Jarius and his daughter.  Jesus has the power to heal and faith is the key.  However, as many times as I read the story of the woman, I never quite felt like I understood everything that Mark is trying to tell us.  On first reflection, it looks like just another healing story and we know that the woman is healed when she believes.  But “WHY” all the emphasis on touching Jesus’s robe.  Plus, the part about Jesus sensing “THAT POWER HAD GONE FORTH FROM HIM” sounded more like a scene out of Star Wars. 

Then I heard about the Fireflies and it all made sense.  There are days when I just don’t feel like I am in sync with God.  Maybe I am too busy to pray.  I don’t read scripture.  The very thought of God doesn’t even enter my mind.  Now usually these days are the ones when – quite frankly – it is all about me.  And these days don’t usually go too well.  I feel out of sorts.  Everything doesn’t seem to go just quite right.  I love myself far more than I love my neighbor.  I love myself more than I love God – and on the worst of these days – if I am honest – I don’t really love God at all.  That is the very definition of a bad day. 

The woman touched Jesus’s robe and she was healed.  But it was more!  She had a hemorrhage that had lasted for 12 years and when you lose blood you lose your strength. There were lots of people that day following the Messiah and we’ve all pushed our way through a crowd to get to the front.  It takes a lot and it took more for her.  And I can see a look of determination on her face because she knew that Jesus could heal her.  She believed, and I imagine nothing was going to stop her from connecting with the Savior.  When she touched Jesus, He touched her physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  She was healed in body, mind, and soul.  And the power of Christ became her strength.  It was a shared moment when heaven and earth were joined in Jesus and a woman who no longer was bleeding.  She now had – for the first time in 12 years – new life.

Now every day Jesus touches us.  When we first wake in the morning – God is there.  Throughout our day Christ is with us to guide us.  Whether are waking or sleeping we live in the presence of God.  But do we know it?  Do we believe it?  It’s not a matter of God touching us.  Are we reaching out to touch Christ?

You’ve heard me talk about my trip to Haiti before.  It was a conversion experience for me in so many ways.  Everywhere we went – everywhere we looked – the poverty was overwhelming.  It looked like there would be no hope – no joy – no peace.  But then on Sunday – there was.  The people came and packed the Churches we visited.  And God was there, and the people listened and sang and at the peace and during communion the people of God reached out and connected with their Savior.  Every Sunday they touched the hem of Jesus’s robe and they found new strength – new life.  Epiphany Episcopal Church in Crochu prayed for a cement block machine and they got one and built walls for their Church and a school for their children on top of a mountain.  At St. Simeon in Croix des Bouquets, the women needed a nutrition and prenatal care program and they started one and today there is a clinic for women, children, men and anyone who needs healing.  This was so much more than social work – it was spirit work and when I had the chance to stand back and watch – you could see the people and the Holy Spirit working as one and there was change – there was new life.

Every day we should be reaching for Christ.  Pray for someone.  Feed the hungry.  Give.  This is how we experience new life in the Kingdom of Heaven here and now.   We together as St. Matthias can shine with the Light of Christ – just like those Fireflies in my grandparents' backyard.  AMEN.

For more on Fireflies, click HERE  for an excellent article in Scientific America.