Pentecost 4

"Christ & the Woman with the Issue of Blood"

Artist: Paolo Veronese

Here's a paragraph from a sermon based on this morning's gospel reading:

Reaching through the gender barrier, stretching across the ritual purity boundaries, this woman displays extraordinary faith, and Jesus recognizes it. Unlike the other miracle stories, Jesus does not pronounce any healing words. He does not recoil or regard himself contaminated. Jesus does nothing to bring the attention back to Him. Instead, he overwhelms her with gentleness. Jesus does not do anything but acknowledge her. He simply calls her "daughter;" and in so doing, he not only gives her the blessing that no one else was willing to give, he acknowledges the power of female faith. In seeking the source of the healing, he cites it as being her own faith. Her courage to break through the conditioning of a lifetime, brings her a condition she can barely remember: peace.

-- The Rev. Sarah Jackson Shelton

I'm very moved by this - and inspired, too. "Courage to break through the conditioning of a lifetime." Let us all pray for such courage however it may be needed right now in each of our lives.