Today’s Gospel is all about faith. Though the “star of the show” of today’s excerpt from Mark is the healing of the Synagogue official’s daughter (and there is much I could say on the subject!), I would like to address the faith of the woman with the hemorrhages.
In the Gospel, Mark notes three things about the woman that make her situation so desperate: she had visited all the doctors she could have, she had no money (having spent it all on the medicines), and, after twelve years of trying, she was only getting worse.
Sounds awful, right?
This woman probably has no idea what she is going to do. She’s in great distress, and has thus far found no cure. Even if she had found one, it wasn’t likely that she could pay for it, now that she was bankrupt.
But she knew about Jesus. She had heard about Him. About His miracles. Though she was out of money, she was not out of faith. “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.”
She knew. So, she took a shot on the last option open to her: faith in God.And it worked. She was healed of the thing that ailed her most, and her faith was strengthened.
Oftentimes we, like the woman, go to God as a last resort. We try to have our earthly “medicines” replace a healing that only comes from God.
It just doesn’t work.
There is no replacement for the healing that comes from God; but just because nothing can take its place doesn’t mean that it’s not accessible. In fact, God’s healing is very accessible. You just have to have the faith to find it.
The woman with the hemorrhages took a leap of faith. After twelve years of failure, I wasn’t surprised if she was wondering if anything, even this, would ever be able to heal her. But she took a dare and placed her faith in God. And it paid off.
Maybe the past year has left a gaping hole in your heart. Maybe you tried to fill it with all sorts of things that just kept slipping through. Maybe you tried to cure it with something that wasn’t medicine, but a mild painkiller that would build up with disastrous results in the future.
If that is you, that’s okay. I know a healer that never fails, a person who can cure every heartache, every hole, and every single hurt you have ever suffered in your entire life.
He healed the woman. He can heal you.
All it takes is a leap of faith.
Perpetua Phelps is a high school student residing in West Michigan and is the second of four children. Apart from homeschooling, Perpetua enjoys volunteering at her church, attending retreats, studying Latin and French, and reading classics such as Beowulf, The Lord of the Rings, C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy, and Mark Twain’s Joan of Arc. She also spends much time writing novels, essays, and poetry for fun and competition. A passionate Tolkien fan, Perpetua is a founding member of a Tolkien podcast.
Feature Image Credit: Angie Menes, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/19091-have-faith
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