Means of Grace: To touch the cloak of Jess

Series: Wesley's Means of Grace: WorshipScripture: Psalm 23; Mark 5:24b-34Title: To touch the cloak of JesusImagine with me for a moment the woman we find in this story from Mark. The story tells us that she has been suffering from bleeding for 12 years. Think back to what was going on twelve years ago. That would be 1994. What was the world like in 1994? Who was president? 1994 was the year of the "Contract with America" as Newt Gingrich and the Republicans took control of Congress. What was the internet like? Did you know about it? Did you have a cell phone back then? If so, how big was it?What was popular then? 1994 was the year that "Friends" debuted. The hottest thing on TV though was the O.J. trial. The Cowboys won the Superbowl by beating the Bills. Do you remember who won the World Series? That was the year there was no World Series. We all remember Nancy Kerigan, right? She was attacked during warmups at nationals to qualify for the Lillehamer Olympics.What were you doing in 1994? Where were you living? Did you have the same job? Did you have the same daily routine? What were your kids like 12 years ago? Did they exist? 12 years is a long time. I can remember what I was doing 12 years ago. I was about to begin my senior year in high school. What has happened in those 12 years? Have they been good years? For me, the last 12 years include college, meeting Sarah, starting a life together, and growing into adulthood. The last 12 years for me have been pretty good. Yes, there have been tragedies. People I love have died - much too young. Friends have gotten into trouble. I have had times when I was pretty low, but overall the last 12 years of my life have been incredible.Now, as you think back to your last 12 years you may have some mixed emotions, but I’m guessing we’ve all had some joy, some pain, some growth, some learning. Now think about the twelve years for this woman immediately before her encounter with Jesus. The story gives us a brief explanation, but we can infer much from these few sentences.She had been bleeding for 12 years. So in your mind, take the last 12 years - and erase it all - replace it instead with visits to doctors who were baffled. Think of false hope, giving your money to another expert promising a cure. Think of the desperation as the condition never ceased. There were no modern conveniences. There was no drug store to get the appropriate products. Think also of the shame. People had a different understanding of disease back then. Now we understand that disease happens because our bodies are fragile. In the ancient world, the only understood cause for disease was a God that was punishing you for your sins. So now, think of yourself as a woman with this sickness in the ancient world. She had three strikes against her. For one, she was a woman. That in and of itself put her in a lower social level. She would have been considered above a child, and perhaps above a slave, but not much. Strike two, she was sick and poor. She had spent all of her money and resources looking for a cure, only to come up empty. This meant that she was obviously cursed by God. Strike three, the nature of her ailment made her continuously unclean. A woman that was bleeding was considered ritually unclean. She could not come into contact with another person, because such contact would make that person unclean as well.So now, consider your memories. Take away any social status you may enjoy. Take away a good reputation. Take away any respect that you have from others. Now Take away any money you spent on anything other than doctors. Take away any leisure time, and fill it in with begging. Take away your job and career. Those memories of the last twelve years would not be very bright. Now take away all contact with other people. Take away every hug, every handshake, every embrace, every accidental bump. Take away intimate conversations. Take away even your connection to God. Take away your church. Take away your sense of pride. Take away your dignity. Take away your very humanity. What would the last twelve years be left with?That is the existence this woman knew. But then she heard of this man, Jesus. She heard that he could heal. Now, she had heard this before of others, but these stories of this man were greater, and more credible than others. She heard that he had touched a leper - someone who would be as unclean as her. She heard that he ate with those that no one else would eat with. She heard enough to give her hope again. So she went to see him. Moreover, she went to encounter him. She wanted to touch him. She went to him fearfully. She went to him with anxiety. She went to him with 12 years of suffering. She went to him on the brink of hopelessness. She went to him surely with much doubt - the doubt born of 12 years of disappointment. But above all, she went to him. She went to him with courage and with boldness because she was searching for something. Despite the suffering. Despite the pain. Despite the world telling her she was worthless, she went because she still clung to hope. She went to him because she clung to faith.She didn’t need much. She didn’t need a conversation. She wouldn’t dare speak to him, she remembered her place. She didn’t even need a touch. She wouldn’t dare touch his skin, she knew that would be too much. She dared though to touch his cloak. She thought, "If I touch his clothes, I will be healed." This woman, beaten down by the world, still held onto faith that this Jesus could heal her. Just a touch of his clothes. "Just the tiniest encounter with this Jesus," she thought, "and I can be healed."So she went to him, in the midst of a crowd. This was a brazen act. If anyone knew about her, they would surely deal with her abruptly, and probably harshly. But she yearned for an encounter with Jesus. She knew that if she could just touch his cloak...Have you ever felt this kind of yearning? This is the yearning that only comes with years of desperation. This is the kind of yearning that comes from years of separation. Have you felt that kind of yearning for someone or something, that you would risk everything just for a touch of a cloak?I believe most people in the world feel like that woman. They are yearning for something. They have been tormented by the rat race for so long, told by the world that the pathway to happiness is to have more things, only to find that path is a never ending labyrinth into oblivion. People we know, people like us - maybe even you and I - We are all yearning for something. We are all looking for healing, and like the woman that went from doctor to doctor, only to get worse; we throw ourselves into work, into making money, into some society, only to feel more ragged then when we began. We, like the woman, are looking for something...Like the woman we have been given false hope, we have been given quick fixes. We have been told the "right" path by many. Our bookstore shelves are filled with "Self Help" books. People are hurting, and they are looking for something. Few realize what they are really looking for. The solution is not found in self-help books. The solution is not found in all the teachings of Dr. Phil. The solution is not found in appeasing every hunger or desire we may have. The solution is not found in consuming and collecting more and more things. The solution lies in something greater - something that can love - something that can heal - something that is holy.The woman, beaten up by the world, yearned for a touch of Jesus because she believed that by touching Jesus she was touching the divine. So she went to him. There were crowds. He was on his way to something important. It was difficult to get to him. But she pushed through the crowds. She didn’t care anymore. She had to see him. She finally reached this man, this Jesus, and she reached out for his cloak and touched it. And she was healed.She was healed. Twelve years of isolation, twelve years of pain, twelve years of chasing after something just out of reach were over. She found healing. She found what she had been looking for all of these years. She found the divine. She encountered Christ and she was made whole. She was made clean. She was made new. She merely touched his cloak and she found grace. Healing grace, and she was suddenly alive again. She was suddenly human again. And Jesus looked at her. He wanted to know who it was that had believed so strongly. "Daughter," he calls her - "Daughter," not "beggar" or "woman." A daughter is someone that is loved. A daughter is someone that is cherished. This woman, who had not been cherished in so long, was called daughter by Jesus. "Your faith has made you well." It was not a magical power. It was not the touch itself - it was her faith. She was made whole by believing. Jesus freed her from her suffering because he loved her. He loved her when no one else would. He loved her and called her daughter when no one else would even come near her. She yearned for an encounter with the divine, and she found it when she touched the cloak of Jesus.All people yearn for this - an encounter with the divine - an encounter with the holy - an encounter with God. We are all looking for healing. We are all looking for grace. We are all looking for someone to call us "beloved son or daughter." When we have an encounter with God we are made new. We are made fresh. By touching God we are given grace. When we touch God we realize what is important. When we are embraced by God we know that we are loved, and that the money and the career and the status is all put into perspective. We are all desperate for just a touch of the divine - just to touch the cloak of Jesus.And that chance to touch the divine is right here. Every Sunday, here in this place we come to experience the divine. We gather together as a community of faith to try and touch the cloak of Jesus. We are desperate for his love. We are desperate for the grace that only Jesus can give. So we gather. We sing. We hear the word. We eat from the table. We worship.It is my prayer that when you come to worship in this place it is not because you want to see your friends. I pray that when you come to worship here it is not out of a sense of duty. I pray that when you come to worship here it is not out of fear of some eternal punishment. I pray that when you come here to worship you come here to touch the cloak of Jesus - to encounter God in a real and powerful way - to be re-created fresh by God - to feel the love of Christ Jesus - to be empowered by the Spirit. That is why we worship. That is the only reason we worship - to encounter God.And if it is happening here, then that is all that matters. That is our only job, to help people encounter God. But if people are not finding God in this place, then we have work to do. That is something we have to figure out together, and I hope you will work with me. Because it is the work of all of us. I will do my part. I pledge to do all I can right here, in preaching and teaching the word, but worship is more than the sermon. Worship is in the way we sing - not what we sing, but the way we sing. Worship - the kind that touches the cloak of Jesus - is in the way we pray. Prayer that is felt, not just recited. The cloak is in the way we give to the offering - yes, giving of your resources is a way to worship. The cloak is in the way we greet each other - and not just the way we greet those we know, but those that are new, and those that might not seem to fit in. Worship - the kind that touches the cloak of Jesus - is in our hearts. The act of worship should be a way to experience grace, and I believe this is a place where grace happens. This is a place where people encounter God. This is a place where people are loved and cared for. This is a place where people come to feel the grace of God.If people can come to this place and encounter God, then all the rest we are called as Christians to do will follow. If people come to this place and encounter God, then that joy and zeal for the Lord will surely be contagious. If people come to this place and encounter God, then we are offering something that nothing else can offer, and these pews will be filled with other people yearning to encounter God. Believe in what this place is, and imagine what this place can be if we, like the woman, are yearning for something divine. If we, like the woman, are willing to risk it all. If we, like the woman, are willing to push through the crowds. If we, like the woman, still hold onto a faith that Jesus can heal and make us whole, then it will happen. That is why we gather. That is why we worship - to touch the cloak of Jesus and be made whole. Amen.