The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:1-4.

Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips. Isaiah 6:5.

He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but He has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. John 3:30-31.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 78: He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him. Psalm 22:8: Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him, because He delights in him. And, Matthew 27:43: He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, “I am the Son of God.”

This morning in our Friday Zoom Retreat, we did a wonderful Lectio Divina with Mark 5:25-34. At its most basic, which we can skim at the speed of our reading and continue on reading, we have a story of a woman plagued with an issue of blood for 12 years, a crowd, and Jesus. 11 verses. Go deeper. She was, because of her bleeding, an outcast, unclean. She had seen many doctors over the years with no cure and was getting worse, and now she has no money. There is a large crowd pressing in on Jesus because Jesus has been asked to go to heal a young girl who is sick and possibly dying and the crowd is pressing all around Him and the disciples in excited anticipation and curiosity. In desperation she just wants to touch His garments so she can be well because she’s heard about Jesus. She touched His cloak. Immediately the flow of her blood dried up and she knew she was healed. Immediately Jesus perceived in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth. He stops. He asks who touched His garments. He looked around to see her. She’s afraid. She comes from among the crowd and falls down before Him and tells Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”

You can read these verses yourself. We read them together and had the most wonderful sharing of ideas like lights glimmering as we went deeper together. From our group we marveled that though there was a crowd and surely others had touched His garments with all the pressing in of the crowd, she, silently with no comment, reached for Him with purpose and deep need. And Jesus felt power go from Him. She knew she was healed! So did He, but He also knew without any words spoken the faith it took for her to reach for Him in that way. What about the crowd? She was an outcast and could have been stoned for mingling so closely with others and touching a Rabbi and making him unclean. But she wasn’t unclean! She didn’t touch any Rabbi, she sought Jesus. She had an illness which Jesus healed. She could have marveled on her own as the crowd and Jesus continued on but that didn’t happen. Jesus stopped. And this story, like the other physical and spiritual healings Jesus did, was for this very specific time to show for us the healing that Jesus the Son – God’s Kingdom – brings. We can’t measure our own faith as we ask for physical healing today based on this remarkable encounter in Scripture. But we can read of the healings Jesus did then, that are so important for all of us because they point us to God’s love. Think of all the people in Scripture who responded to the call of the Spirit. Was the Spirit moving this woman at this time to act in this way? Because what she encountered in saying yes was Jesus Himself calling her daughter – and she would go forth in peace from that time on knowing she was His. What about us? Remember the crowd? I loved this in Jesus Calling by Sarah Young: “My children make a pastime of judging one another – and themselves. But I am the only capable Judge, and I have acquitted you through My own blood. Your acquittal came at the price of My unparalleled sacrifice. That is why I am highly offended when I hear My children judge one another or indulge in self-hatred. If you live close to Me and absorb My Word, the Holy Spirit will guide and correct you as needed. There is no condemnation for those who belong to Me.” The greatest healing she received was Jesus Himself. The lesson the crowd must have wondered at was that Jesus did not judge her unclean and rebuke her. He sought her so He could tell her she was His daughter. That changed everything! She is the daughter of the Kingdom of God. And that is the personal encounter we can reach for today, every one of us, just as surely as she reached for Him. He calls. Are we willing to receive and go forward with Him? All of creation speaks! Every day and night we can listen and marvel at the beauty of the creation Creator God created. And we can read 11 verses and receive gleanings of light that point to God’s incredible love for us and be forever changed as we walk with Him.

***THE WHOLE OF MY LOVE Lord, because You have made me, I owe You the whole of my love. Because You have redeemed me, I owe You the whole of my self. Because You have promised so much, I owe You my whole being. Moreover, I owe You much more love than myself, as You are greater than I, for whom You gave Yourself and to whom You promised Yourself. I pray You, LORD, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge. Let me know by love what I know by understanding. I owe You more than my whole self, but I have no more, and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to You. Draw me to You, LORD, in the fullness of Your love. I am wholly Yours by creation; make me all Yours, too, in love. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109). Adapted.***