Our new Asst Curate, Fr Joe Kochanski started his ministry in the parish this morning (Sunday, June 30th) by preaching at our morning services.
As all Ordained Minsters should, Fr Joe reminded us of Christ’s saving grace, that “in our brokenness, Christ comes to us on the cross”.
Read Fr Joe’s sermon in full:
Good morning everyone. It really is such a joy to be with you this morning. It’s been over a year since Fr. Mark and I first met to discuss the possibility of me serving my curacy here in Rufford and Tarleton, and it’s wonderful to finally be here. Thank you for making me feel so welcome.
And what a tremendous reading we had in today’s Gospel – this wonderful story within a story – a woman in need of healing sandwiched within the narrative of Jairus and his daughter.
I do love Mark’s Gospel. He tells us straight off the bat in Chapter 1 Verse 1 that Jesus is the Son of God – and then he tells a number of stories to help prove this to his readers by demonstrating the power and authority which Jesus has over things. We see healings which demonstrate Jesus’ power over disease. There are exorcisms showing Jesus’ power over demons and the powers of darkness. In last week’s Gospel, Jesus calmed the storm demonstrating his authority over nature and creation.
And this section culminates with today’s Gospel – which begins and ends with the story of Jairus and his daughter, demonstrating Jesus’ authority over death itself. It is such a remarkable and theologically rich story, but for today, I want to concentrate on the story in the middle. The story of the woman in need of healing. Scripture doesn’t record her name, but for reasons which will become clear she is one of my own, personal, spiritual heroes and her story is one I reflect on often.
We’re told that this poor woman had been suffering for a long time. She has been haemorrhaging for twelve years. Physically she would have experienced fatigue, exhaustion and weakness, abdominal pains, dizziness, and may have been prone to fainting spells due to persistent blood loss. But that’s not the worst of it. Her physical ailments meant that under Levitical law, she would have been ceremonially unclean. Her condition would have necessitated isolation from friends and family, from her community, lest they become ceremonially unclean through contact. Being considered unclean would have led to her being socially excluded. She would have been marginalized, living on the fringes of society, which would have compounded her emotional and psychological suffering. Add to all that, the economic suffering she would have endured.
The physical and social implications of her illness would have kept her from any regular pattern of work, and scripture tells us that any money she did have, in desperation, she spent on doctors, who only made the problem worse.
She was desperately in need of healing – a healing which was beyond the powers of this world…
Her situation would have been hopeless aside from one crucial element. Scripture tells us that she had heard about Jesus. Someone had told her about Jesus – and she believed – she believed that Jesus could change her life. Such was her faith that she believed all she needed to do was to touch his garment and she would be healed.
Then came that fateful day. The commotion on the streets grew as the rumour began to spread that Jesus was in town. Many left their homes and joined the crowd of people, driven by the curiosity to see what was happening. The rumour reached this woman too. And so she too took to the street, but not out of curiosity – and not just to follow along with everyone else, but she set off with the sole intention of encountering Christ that day.
The crowds made her movement nearly impossible. There were so many people around Jesus – so many people touching him, nudging him, bumping into him. How she would have struggled to make her way through it all. She finally managed to slip by enough people – she stretched out her arm as far as it would go – she felt the strain in her elbow – and then with the tips of her fingers, she felt the coarse fabric as she just caught the corner of Jesus’ robe.
And then, for a moment, the world stood still. She knew immediately that she was healed – she could feel it. And so could Jesus. “Who touched me?” he asked. The question made no sense to his disciples. “What are you talking about?” they asked. “There are hundreds of people touching you” – but Jesus recognised this touch was different. In a sea of hands, Jesus recognised the touch of someone reaching out to him in faith. And He would go no further until he had a personal encounter with that person.
So my brothers and sisters, here’s the big question for us. If we are honest with ourselves, who in that story are we more like when we come to worship? Who are we more like as we come forward to receive the Eucharist? Are we more like those in the crowd who are just going with the flow, going along with the movement, perhaps accidentally bumping into Jesus along the way? Or are we more like this woman, whose sole purpose when she left home that morning was to encounter Christ – and who so desperately reached out to him in faith?
And please be assured, I include myself in these rhetorical questions as well. I’ll be the first to admit that after three Masses in a row on a Sunday, if left unchecked, my mind might easily find itself wandering to topics such as what’s for lunch, who do I need to ring later, or wondering how poorly my Euro fantasy football team is doing.
But when I catch my mind wandering like that, I often think of this woman, and this is why she is one of my spiritual heroes. She represents me! She represents all of us! Because of our sin, all of us are broken, all of us are hurt, all of us are ill. All of us are in need of healing – and we know the remedies of this world do not work.
But in our brokenness, Christ comes to us from the cross. Here, today, we have the opportunity to experience the living and true God in word and in sacrament. Here we have the opportunity, in humility, to acknowledge our need, and with the whole of our being, to reach out to our saviour in faith. Here today, at every single Mass, we have the opportunity to encounter Jesus and to hear him say in our hearts, “your faith has made you well; go in peace”.
And so this morning, let us draw a renewed inspiration from this woman – who did the three most important things for any disciple to do, she heard, she came, and she touched. Let us hear the words of scripture and acknowledge our brokenness and need for Jesus. Let us come with renewed focus, and with the intention of encountering Christ here today. And let us reach out to him in faith and touch him, confident that Jesus has not changed since the day when this woman was healed. He is still gracious and still eager to save, and we are assured that those who place their faith in him shall be transformed and made whole. May Jesus says to each of us today, “your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be hea
