Sermon 154 Mar 3: Tob8:4b-8, 10, 13, 15-17;Rm12:6-19;Mk5:24b-34.
As preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Temple
Last week I took one of our German shepherds, Shiloh, with me to the bank. She is usually with the Christy’s but they are away so I am caring for her during their absence. She is a Verna-Kahn daughter and she is super alert about all that goes on around her. She is also full of energy and very playful. I was particularly amused at the bank this time because Shiloh was so intent on checking out everything. Sniffing all around the floor, into the offices, she would have gone into the bank vault if I had let her go! I was with Amanda, a bank officer, at her desk and had Shiloh on a down-stay on leash. Good thing she was on leash as she was fixated on Amanda. Not hostile, just inquisitive and very attentive. When Amanda rose to go around the desk to get a document from the printer, Shiloh wanted to go too. With my foot on the leash, that did not happen! Shiloh knew where she wanted to be. Near Amanda!
Today’s gospel lesson is one we hear every Lent. At first glance, it is a healing story. But it also is conveying another message in the context of Great Lent. It’s about touch, getting in touch with God. Or to put it another way: Being in God’s presence and being aware of God’s presence around us. What would it take for us to be as aware of God’s nearness to us as Jesus was aware of the woman who touched him? Or to want to touch the divine person as did the woman with the issue of blood. Or as Shiloh was aware of, and wanted to be near to, Amanda?
The various practices of lent can begin to feel like punishment rather than liberation: eating less, avoiding unnecessary distractions [TV, surfing on computers, endless activity on social media, etc.], reining in destructive emotions [also called passions: anger, jealousy, hate, discontent, etc.], attending more and longer church services, spending more time in prayer and meditation, feeding unexpected guests, helping rather than fleeing from those in need, etc. Sound familiar? Doing these things out of some felt obligation misses the point. These activities take time, some of it to help us recollect ourselves and quiet the busy noise whirling within our minds and hearts, and some of it to focus our energy on the needs of others as tangible acts of reaching out to God. For, as we heard a couple of weeks ago, Christ tells us: as you do these things for others you do them for me. If our journey through Lent doesn’t get us any closer to God then we are on the wrong road.
The Gospel is calling us to be aware of God’s presence even when it means waiting or persevering without a response to some immediate need. Waiting patiently is in short supply in modern society. One minute can seem like an eternity on the phone or the computer, where we expect responses instantaneously. The woman in today’s gospel spent years and all her money seeking relief from her condition. The path she journeyed was the path she had to be on. She did not give up. When the response came she was alert and ready to reach out and seize it, even though she had to overcome her fear around the awesomeness of what she was doing.
If our Lenten observances help us to acquire patience and a willingness to persevere and to put in the time to seek God, then we are making progress. It may not always feel like it. Do not give up! Those moments when we sense God’s presence may begin to multiply and we may begin to notice our own attitudes changing and our anxieties waning as we realize that we are indeed being accompanied on our life journey by the best friend we will ever have – in addition to our dog!
Christ is in our midst!
