what does a touch mean?

26 May

Mark 5

21 ‘ When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” …

35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

36 Overhearing[c] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. ‘

Mark 5

1, The two miracles ( Jairus daughter and the woman with the flow ) are connected …

2.How?
In each, a desperate person needs a physical healing…
a younger girl and second an older woman
the first he touches and with the other older woman, he is touched:

both touches involve healing.
In one he is asked by a father who falls to his knees as a beggar, and in the other, he is touched by a woman without money, a beggar, who does not feel worthy enough to be asked. She also falls to her knees as she confesses her touch of Jesus.

Each needs healing; each falls to their needs; each experience Jesus’ touch… and each are healed.

This older woman was probably in the crowd and heard Jairus request. This prompts her to act; to follow Jesus. Jarius’ words stimulate the idea that there is healing in the touch of Jesus.

A lesson here- for us is to touch Jesus, …How?

… ourselves, we touch by studying His word; his life, His death; His resurrection.

More than studying , we cry out to touch because we are called to touch the what can be the untouchable…

our own hearts; our own selves

I touch

shards,

10 May

to share, faithfully (Joey shards)

each&every day, ( except weekends ) I share a Biblical verse and a related thought on the verse with a small group of brothers, sisters and family … early this 10 May, I received this text .,.


‘ You faithfully share with me every day. Today, I am sharing with you. If my calendar is correct, today is the remembrance of Joey’s death. I don’t know what such a day is like for you, but please consider these thoughts on Philippians 4:7…

‘ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ‘

Philippians 4:7


“ God does the guarding……through peaceIt is beyond my understandingWill guard your hearts and minds……in Christ Jesus
It is not I, but the peace of God, that does the guarding. He guards both my heart (soul, core, center) and my mind (could be one with the heart as often described in the OT). God’s peace is beyond my understanding. Seek comfort in knowing how much more he is beyond me. The peace is delivered (through the Holy Spirit?) That guards our hearts and minds (btw, this is also collective to the church of Philippi) in Christ Jesus. God the Father authors the peace, it is delivered by the Holy Spirit, it is guarded in us by Jesus.


I pray for you today the peace of God which passes, surpasses, exceeds,(in fact is inestimable) ALL understanding.” 

as I give, I have received

8 May

an idea, template to help in Bible study…

26 Apr

a template


icebreaker: ie ( if you could live in a TV show for one week, what would it be and why? ) or,…
…if not an icebreaker prayer, praise requests
the scripture: ( read it out loud, twice if possible from 2 different translations

image: ask yourself, what image, what word picture, do you want your group to leave with ? why? and what does it mean? 

verse: what key word, what key verse resonates with you from your, our reading? 

theme: what is the main, the central idea 💡 embedded in this passage?
why is this theme central? what is does it mean? to you? to others ?

prayer: pray over this scripture…pray the word … ie ‘Lord, help me, enable me, to read your word with true empathy… true emotional understand and act on it …’

a shard; love of God

20 Apr

what happens when I love Jesus?

from Genesis…’‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.’

while this verse, spoken by Joseph to his brothers, is not technically a proverb… yet-

Joseph’s words overflow with wisdom …. and connects with Paul’s view of what occurs when I love …

Romans 8: 28 ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

as with Joesph, all things all work together for good, as we love Him

all

Anxiety Dreads A Smiling Face

12 Apr

Easter, tuesdays, exhaustions ….

11 Apr

exhaustion … in contrast to ‘rest’ – Easter Monday blog… from Luke 22

sorrow’s exhaustion

39 ‘Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

But they ( the women ) rested…’; the disciples slept, not in rest, but from sorrow’s exhaustion. The women of Luke 23 Reston obedience.

Luke sees both, and with his ‘but’, highlights the women’s choice.

They, the women in their sorrows, choose wisely.

Easter Monday, a rest…

10 Apr


One of the many things I miss about living in London is Easter Monday. All banks are closed; all financial markets and a number of restaurants. It is a day of rest and reflection- from busy works and family; from travel. Easter Monday is, then, for rest. And the women who walked with Jesus illustrate this-

Luke 23…’Going to Pilate, he ( Joseph of Arimathea ) asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day,and the Sabbath was about to begin.

55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.’

‘But they rested…’’ Seeing Jesus’ flayed, tortured form, seeing their beloved teacher without life, how did these women respond?

Going to their home, they prepared salves for their teacher’s disfigured body and face. And then thy rested. How?

They trusted in the scriptures, in the word. They were obedient to their faith, their teacher’s parables and word.

Luke writes ‘But …’ He was surprised at their rest, yet he was instructed by their examples. In the midst is sorrow, rest in the promises of the word, the scriptures. In deep distress, have the faith to be obedient…

Our Lord wants us to enter into rest: his rest. Stop, pause, reflect.

rest.

easter, Florida family

9 Apr
Kathy&Larry
Shannon&Dear ( with Bert in the background )
our Hallet family
Adam, my brother
Melanie, Eric&Anthony
Karl, Ellen, Priscilla and …

Jesus, his empathy…his heart

5 Apr
from Turin, Italy

from Luke 7

‘Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

‘ … his heart went out to her…’ Jesus visits the town of Nain. Walking to the town gate, by chance, he sees a widow who has lost her son, her only son. Seeing her sorrows, her tears, her, his heart moves to her. This is his empathy.

In the Greek ‘empathy’ is used to describe someone who is acting while being driven by passion. With such emotions, no one can see objectively or calmly. Jesus is not at peace as he sees this unnamed mother and widow. A woman who has lost her himself and now her only son, one who had to remind her of a loved husband’s lost. One sorrow calls up the other. She is alone.

But not quite alone. Jesus sees. He approaches. He feels deeply, with his heart going to her.

In the English version ‘empathy’ means that someone is getting to feel deeply (“more inside”) the other and his/her situation. This widow is not alone. Jesus’ heart is with hers.

They cry together. And so, …

14 Then he ( Jesus ) went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Our Lord came to Earth to show us, to see our sorrows. He came to teach us, as he walked among all peoples, how to feel even when immense pains were involved. He came to share our pains; to share us with his father and the Spirit.

He came to teach us how to feel, to feel deeply.

We are his heart, his empathy. Jesus comes to feel deeply.

Us.

Feel as Him the Easter week of 2023. Let hearts go out to those in need. Feel, by the Spirit, as Jesus. Deeply feels.