Word to the Wise
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 - Tuesday in the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 12:1-4 and Mark 5:21-43]If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.
The words of the woman in the crowd remain with me because of an incident that occurred when I was a pastor in San Antonio. One Sunday morning, while my associate pastor was ceelebrating the Eucharist, I was on "pastor patrol!" I went into the lobby of the church, which was separated from the assembly room by doors. I saw some teens sitting on a pew down at one end of the lobby and I asked them to join the rest of the congregation inside. Then I turned and saw a woman standing with man and asked if they would care to join the congregation as well. The lady said they would prefer to stay in the lobby. I replied, "But the church is gathered inside!" She replied, "The church is gathered out here, too!" That lady lives on in my memory as one of those who feel that the best they can do is to touch the tassel of Jesus' cloak!
Jesus knew that his cloak had been touched in a way that was different from all the other jostling in the crowd. Yet he still had to ask who it was that had touched him in that special way - the way of faith and hope. This was not for the sake of the cure, but simply to reassure the woman in the crowd. If nothing else, he assured her and the crowd that it was not his cloak that cured, but the faith of the woman. I learned an important pastoral lesson that Sunday morning. There will always be those who will only be able to touch the cloak. That is as close as they feel they can come. In my campus ministry years, I found that to be a regular occurrence because that is often the state of a student's faith. Their need is great but standing in the back is the best they can do at the moment. I hope church ushers everywhere could realize this and let them be! Jesus knows they are there. AMEN
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