Homily March 15, 2020 Gospel: Mark 5:25-34

As preached by Sister Rebecca 
Holy Wisdom Church

This morning I would like to reflect with you on the Gospel story of the woman who had endured a flow of blood for 12 years.  This woman is nameless.  Perhaps the evangelists—all three of the synoptics—purposely left her nameless? Does she represent a part of ourselves? I invite us to ponder, to imagine what it feels like to be considered by others as unclean, isolated, penniless, ostracized. 

This woman was condemned by religious law as unclean. She had to be ostracized.  Everything she touched became unclean. She was responsible not to contaminate others. 

            We learn that she approached Jesus “in fear and trembling.”  She hoped nobody would notice her.  She could not help but be aware that in touching the hem of Jesus’ garment she made him unclean.  She internalized the condemnation of her society and her religion: she had been socialized to think of herself as dirty, soiled, filthy.

Socialization is such a strong force in our lives.  Even if we know differently, intellectually, we often act the way we have been socialized.  How so? Society has rules or customs that are considered “normal.”  If we think differently, we are deviants, we are abnormal, inadequate.  We are deemed inferior.

This woman, stripped of any kind of support, acted against this false identity.  What gave her the courage to act differently? Besides feeling desperate because of the failure of her doctors to heal her, and being financially ruined? That would certainly push most of us to go against the grain.  But what really gave HER courage was that she had not given up.  She believed in herself enough to struggle. That is what pushed her on to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment.  This struggle emerged from a deep recognition of her own power.  She would no longer wait for others to fix her life.  She refused to identify herself with the demeaning circumstances of her life.  Deep within she knew: “If I but touch his garment, I will be made well.”  She intuited that Jesus offered a life that was “unleakable”—one that could never be drained from her.  By embracing her own “power-touch,” like a magnet, her own power called forth Jesus’ power. And Jesus said, “Power has gone forth from me.”  When she touched his hem, she was transfused with the power of God.  No longer did life leak out from her, but life flowed into her.

There is still more to this story.  It begins with her being nameless.  But Jesus is not about to leave her drift off in anonymity. He wants to establish a connection, a relationship with her. Jesus names her “Daughter.”  She now has a personal identity, a place, a sense of who she really is. Daughter? Of who?  She is God’s daughter.  This naming is so vitally important:  Jesus’ life of ministry, his own sense of empowerment of who he really is, happened, at the Jordan when he descended into the deep dark waters. In rising he heard the words that changed his own personal identity, his life’s purpose: “You are my Son, my Beloved.” 

In her encounter with Jesus, as this woman is healed, she too experiences wholeness of being: Beloved Daughter of God.  Jesus transmits this enlightened transformation of consciousness not only to this woman but to us. We see it throughout the Gospels, in countless beings ever since, and even at certain moments in our lives.

            To realize this belonging is a true homecoming, a consciousness of total unconditional acceptance of the person I really am.   From this space, as we see in this woman, who rises from a dark, deadened image of herself, we too, today, can join her in embracing our innermost freedom and go in peace.

Surely everyone here has moments of feeling hopeless, tired, and weak, as though our life has a hole in it. Do we feel drained, like a bucket with a hole at the bottom: empty, with nothing that can fill it?  Do we experience at times—we ourselves or for those we care about—a sense of being drained of life? 

            During this time of national—even worldwide—lockdown, when we are suddenly invited to isolate ourselves physically and socially from those outside our homes, are we called to take this time to go inward, find our innermost God-given power to embrace this present condition, not as isolation but in a deeper level of our hearts, to commune with the whole human race with our trust in God, to be creative, to go beyond our personal selves to seeking the wellbeing of others, especially those whose lives are more drastically altered and threatened.

            Whenever we live in times that threaten to make us feel drained of life, may we touch the hem of Jesus’ mantle in this spirit: “I need you now!” May Jesus’ power transfuse us with his life, his love, and his power.  God cannot resist those words: “Oh my God! Help me.”