Who touched me?

How do we respond when our plans for the day are interrupted? How do we respond to the need we see all around us?

When you become a parent you immediately are thrown into a masterclass in interruptions. Whether it's interrupted sleep, or an activity interrupted by an explosive nappy, every day there is a constant chorus of "Mum! Mum! Mum!" to interrupt you from your never ending to-do list so that you can meet their needs.

For someone like me, who has the character flaw of wanting to be control at all times and on top of my schedule of activities, becoming a mum becomes a lesson in interruptions and learning how to deal with them without imploding or exploding.

In our Gospel reading this morning, we see how Jesus responds to his plans being interrupted. We see Jesus by the lake, having returned from the community living on the other side of it. He is busy with a large crowd gathered around him. Perhaps he had planned to spend his day preaching to them, healing their illnesses, feeding them.

Whatever His plans may have been, He experiences two interruptions in quick succession. First the leader of the synagogue begs Jesus to come to his house and heal his sick daughter. And, while on the way to do this, Jesus is interrupted again by the actions of a sick woman who touched his cloak.

From His response, we can see that:

1)     Jesus was open to interruption.

Jesus was a man on a very important mission but He still left himself open to interruptions. His plans for the day were not so rigid that he wouldn’t adjust them to respond to someone in need.

Sometimes we can be so busy and have so many things to do that we can become a slave to our schedules, plans and to-do lists.

Yes, each thing on our list may be incredibly important but Jesus demonstrates that being responsive to the needs of others must interrupt our plans sometimes.

2)     He is touched by people’s faith

There were many people in the crowds pressing against Jesus. They all had their own individual needs. But these two individuals grabbed his attention and interrupted his day because Jesus was touched by their faith.

Jairus was a synagogue leader. He would have been well-respected by the religious rulers, the Pharisees and Sadducees that were against Jesus. So Jairus’ daughter must have been in a terrible condition for him to declare his faith in Jesus so openly. It was a brave thing to go to Jesus when so many influential and powerful people within the synagogue were plotting against him. By acknowledging his faith in Jesus’ power so publicly, Jairus put his own reputation at risk.

Jairus would not take such a risk if he didn’t have a strong faith that a touch from Jesus would save his daughter’s life. Jesus was moved to action when He saw Jairus’ faith.

In the same way,  the woman with the haemorrhage demonstrated tremendous faith when she decided to join the crowds in an attempt to touch Jesus. Because she was constantly bleeding, she had been ceremonially unclean for 12 years under the Leviticus laws. This meant she could not enter a synagogue, she could not mix with other believers. She could not touch anyone or be touched by anyone without making them unclean.

She would have been more or less housebound for 12 years. Everything she lay on or sat on was unclean, meaning, besides the many doctors she had spent her money on, she wouldn’t have had many visitors for over a decade. We think the lockdowns we experienced were difficult. Can you imagine being locked down for 12 years like this woman was?

And yet, despite the fact she must have been terrified to be surrounded by a crowd when she’d not left her house or had much contact with people for so many years, her faith in Jesus’s power was stronger than her fear. She knew that if she just touched his clothes, she would be made well.

And her faith touched Jesus. In the middle of the pressing crowd, He could ask “Who touched me?” and was aware that power had gone out of him.

So we see that the faith of Jairus and the woman moved Jesus to act on their behalf.

The Gospel passage also shows us that:

3)     Jesus’ touch is open to everyone

Whether society views you as important or unimportant, Jesus doesn’t see you in that way. He recognises that all are in need of His touch.

We see this in the journeys across the lake that He has been taking. One side of the lake was a Gentile community, the other side was Jewish. He had been preaching and healing individuals from both sides of the lake. His touch was open to everyone, Jew and Gentile alike.

The two females in the Gospel passage couldn’t be more different in terms of their social status. Jairus’ daughter is part of the community. She is the daughter of a respected synagogue leader.

The woman with the haemorrhage is an outcast from the community. She couldn’t even enter a synagogue. This woman is not just excluded from community, she is suffering physically, and financially, having spent all her money on doctors who couldn’t help her condition.

Yet, as different as these two female’s circumstances may be, Jesus’ touch is available to both of them equally. He is willing to be interrupted to bring healing to both “daughters”. They are on an equal footing before him.

And finally, we can see that:

4)     Jesus’ touch brings life and healing

The woman with the haemorrhage was considered unclean by her society. Jairus’ daughter, no longer sick but dead, was now also a source of contamination. Under Levitical laws anyone who touched a dead body would be unclean for a number of days.

But Jesus was not contaminated when the woman touched Him and neither was He contaminated by touching Jairus’ dead daughter. This is because He wasn’t just an ordinary man, but was the God Man (Immanuel), God with Us.

Instead of being contaminated, Jesus’ healing power went into both females, transforming two seemingly hopeless and dead situations. His words to the woman, “Daughter, your faith has made you well” healed the psychological wound she carried from all the years she had been excluded from the community. Calling her “daughter”, naming her as part of His family, must have affected her deeply. Jesus’ touch and powerful words ended years of suffering for the woman and brought resurrection for Jairus’ daughter.

This is not just true for these two females in the Gospel reading. We can see in their stories the symbolism of what Jesus’ mission was to the world. In his response to these women He foreshadows His mission. God’s plan that interrupts history, entering into His creation to bring about the salvation of the whole world.

Just as he healed the woman whose condition cut her off from the community of believers, Jesus’s death on the cross brings healing to all of us whose sins cut us off from God’s presence. Just as he brought Jairus’ daughter back to life, His resurrection promises new life to everyone who believes in Him.

So, what practical lessons can we draw from Jesus’ response?

In terms of our own relationship with Him, maybe we can remind ourselves that His ears are open to our prayers, we can call on Him at any time in our day. He promises to hear us when we cry out to Him. And we can be confident that, when we approach Him with faith in his ability to rescue and help us, He will respond. We can allow ourselves to be interrupted by God's words and His plan for our day. We can loose our grip of our own busy schedule and be open to the interruptions that following His Will instead of ours will bring about.

We can also be encouraged to share the Good News of Jesus with everyone in our lives because we know that His touch and His salvation is open to everyone in need of new life and healing.If the woman with the haemorrhage had not heard about Jesus, she would never have built up the faith to push her out of her house and into the crowd to find her healer. We are called to share the Gospel with everyone, especially for those who have been excluded and ignored.

Perhaps this week we can be inspired to respond to interruptions to our plans in the same way that Jesus did. Whether it’s pausing to listen to my daughter telling me all about her favourite cartoon even if she is interrupting me trying to send an important work email. Or maybe it is changing your plans in order to pay a visit to someone who is bereaved, lonely, isolated or suffering in some way. Whatever it is, can we all try to be aware of the needs of others and respond to interruptions with a little more compassion and flexibility?

Let’s be open to interruptions and aware of the people whose needs ‘touch’ us this week and also be aware of the impact that our touch and words have on the people we encounter. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, our lives and actions can bring the Gospel that brings life and healing to everyone who interrupts us.