Are You Touching Jesus?

Rev Merin Mathew

(Mark 5: 24-34)

 And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years.  She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,  for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.  Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” He looked all around to see who had done it.  But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.  He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

When we meditate on the above passage, one is confounded with the question as to what exactly is the ailment of the woman in the narrative. There are various opinions and theories. But we will discuss that in the latter half of the meditation. This passage has challenged my religiosity and practices. As the narrative says, Jesus was thronged by the crowd from all sides. Seeing such a situation, the woman who was suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years thought this was the right time to sneak healing by just touching Jesus’ cloth. I am trying to imagine her trying to reach out to Jesus in midst of the crowd. It was not easy but the desire to be healed propelled her. There was a taboo for women to touch a Rabi, but the crowd gave the woman the perfect cover to touch Jesus. She might have gone to the side and realized that she was healed. She was just about to shout with joy but instead she froze with horror. She heard Jesus say “Who touched my clothes?” What a ridiculous question. The absurdity of the question was very obvious to Jesus’ disciples. With indignation they ask , “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” One could imagine the disgust they felt in being in midst of a crowd. People thronging Jesus must have been a cause of irritation to them. But Selwyn Hughes says that Jesus knew the difference between thronging and touching. There were many people who were crowding and thronging Him. He knew when a person earnestly touched Him. These days we see in the market place of spirituality people are thronging to churches, temples, godmen and healers. We are just part of a crowd without real feeling of love and community. The question we need to ask is, “Are we touching Jesus in our Worship, family prayers, Youth meetings, Sunday Schools?” Most of us are just following a pattern so we go to church; we have family prayers, Sunday school and so on. The real meaning is lost. We are like the crowd that is thronging Jesus but only the woman who touched Jesus was healed. The difference is felt. After one year in ministry I am getting the feeling that our churches are becoming less of a community and more of a crowd. Are we losing the real fellowship that entails touching Jesus and touching the lives of our neighbours? As a priest I look back with disgust at times when I have celebrated the Holy Communion in a very mechanical manner. As today I complete one year of being Ordained as a Deacon, I dedicate myself to Touch Jesus and touch the lives of people that come in contact with me. Only a crowd that Touches Christ can be transformed to become a loving and caring community. Like the woman, we too are suffering. We suffer from apathy, lack of sensitivity, selfishness and self righteousness. Let us Touch Jesus to receive forgiveness for these sins of ours so that we become transformed to be a witnessing community.

Now let us revert to the question that we started with. What was the ailment that the woman in the story suffered from? Jeffrey John in Meaning in the Miracles says that the woman suffered from a menstrual disorder or complication. He says that the contemporary low esteem given to women in Jewish society could be attributed to the menstrual taboo. Menstruation was associated with God’s curse on Eve in Genesis 3:16. This associated uncleanness or impurity to menstruation. So one should understand that, the woman in the passage committed a huge act of sacrilege by touching a Jewish Rabbi. In one sense she polluted him. Here is where the response of Jesus gives perspective. His attitude of inclusion and transformation is very evident from His response. He did not subscribe to conventions that excluded people. Whenever I enter the Altar to Celebrate the Communion, I become aware that I am standing on a Holy Ground that has excluded women. It is a place that I have great reverence but I am aware that on the logic of purity, women are debarred from entering it. This is one shameful practice that the church should do away with. Why is the most Holy place in the Church out of the reach of Women? Because they are impure? The followers of Christ do not seem to be as Magnanimous as Him. (I have not dealt the fact that thinking of menstruation as impure is by far the most illogical understanding. It is Archaic and ridiculous) As one of my Friend Binju Abraham said, “It is time for the women of the Mar Thoma Church to declare ‘Occupy Madbaha Movement’”. These days with my fellow batchmates, I am observing the completion of One Year in Ministry. But it is not a time to celebrate, but it is an occasion to be courageous to challenge conventions that exclude and marginalize people. Let us pledge to break dividing walls. Let us try to be more and more like Jesus. Let us touch Him to be transformed.

Rev Merin Mathew

Guwahati Mar Thoma Church