…”Your faith has made you well”…

It seems that no matter what we do or where we go, we are in need. In need of support and friendship, in need of good and concerned relationships, in need of wholeness and healing. And we look to the avenues that will support us in the pursuit of our need.

No matter where Jesus went, as his ministry continued, his followers grew and the crowds pressed in around him. To be near to him began to raise the hopes of many who were , it seems, without hop, but a glimmer of faith aroused hope and even if I could just …touch the hem of his cloak. Ridiculous, I know, but it worked. A gift that has given generations of believers hope and has grown the faith of even the most hardened of cynics. The need was monumental, years of suffering, but if only…though the ill woman. If I but touch the hem of his cloak. Identified, healed and blessed and sent on her way. Another satisfied customer. A woman’s faith confirmed. Hope restored, life given.

An official’s daughter is seriously ill and they send for Jesus. On arrival, she is pronounced dead, but Jesus removes the negative, probably hysterical crowd, and their cry’s and takes the ones who matter the most and raises the child to wellness…she immediately begins to walk around…”give her something to eat”.

It never ens, but making right is about restoration of relationship with self and with one another. None of us is an island and the declaration that ‘I’ll be alright’ is a declaration fo need in itself and indeed a cry for help.

Jesus comes to heal, the sick, the lost, the disposed, the hungry, all of us, buried in sin, separated even from ourselves and looking, searching, desiring. I just want to be well.

Jesus comes to us, in love, knowing our need, reconciling the separation we have fallen into in our awkwardness and pride and dispelled all that is peripheral and taken us to ourselves. We come to Jesus seeking that which the world in all its shallowness and arrogant self righteousness cannot give: a peace that passes all understanding , that gives wholeness of life, healing in both our living and our dying.

Love will bring us home and is the key and the motivation fo those who would but touch the hem of Jesus cloak, and Jesus himself who is ever aware of our need and waiting to meet us in our need.

As we gather together, we experience the expectant love which is ever present and always to come in the household of faith and in relationship with the one who loved us first. As we sit alone with Jesus, we find in him the one who knows us the best and can restore us to life.

Bless you in your seeking, and may you have faith enough to open your hearts to the healing love of Jesus.