Necessity

 "And there was a woman who had an ongoing discharge of blood for twelve years, who spent all her money on physicians, but had not been healed by anyone". Luke 8:43.

'No one knows where this goes next', said a government minister this week, seeking to summarise the current national situation. Projections rise and fall, comments ebb and flow, but it's all tired rhetoric after the event. The ship of state, the vessel defined as "society", has been substantially holed below the water line, and the appearance of calm continuation at the helm comes via a staunch refusal to see the absolute hell below decks, where commands to follow-through on behaviours which have become increasingly heinous in the flooding, are beginning to bring the whole enterprise to a grinding halt.

The central denial is easily justified - it's all because of the pandemic, it's said, that we're in this mess. Once everyone is 'on board' with the message (vaccination, vaccination and, oh, vaccination), everything will be just peachy. Well, the trouble is that 9/11 and the '08 world economic crash have absolutely nothing to do with coronavirus, but both massively adjusted the political and social norms of the West. The reasons we're here have just as much to do with what followed such liquifying moments as our more recent policies. All of this contributes to a realm severely haemorrhaging it's prior strengths and certainties.

With that in view, let's come to the text.

Luke's narration about this woman in deep need speaks directly in our present moment in a manner we all should heed.

The wounded are everywhere -  you, me, our neighbour, and especially those who believe they are "in no need of physician". The malady which inflicts our world  matched the 'unstoppable issue' Luke's narrative brings into the orbit of Jesus - we like the women in this incident, are all equally incapable of staunching the loss of personhood we should essentially contain, purely because of the prison that now defines us within. The tragedy is when we define such a crippling condition as perfectly fine, even though it's sure to end us. Pride shackles us to such venom so we become incapable of seeking true antidote to our appalling ill.

The figure in this story knew she was far from well, and had lost her wealth in a search for a remedy amongst those who she hoped could heal her world. Some know, in this world's better days, that they need to match such a search. People often place faith in what's promised or provided by 'experts' because they long to be safe and whole, but when what is given cannot actually end the uncertainty and dismiss the trouble, what then?

Medicine has come a very long way since the time of this occurrence, but the essential corruption in us has not changed at all, and tragically, all too often, this poison can become the source for all manner of evil, even to the point where men proclaim they mean well when they are bent only on doing nothing but harm.

This woman reaches out beyond the bounds of the bustling crowd to connect with a life beyond what was bestowed by convention and social norms. Her uncleanliness could not hinder a faith that pierced such moral constraints.

Faith, raw and total, cannot be hindered - the consequence of its action is instantaneous, and there, amongst the throng, Jesus knows He must address the one who is the recipient... for our benefit.

The healing has been completed rapidly, but Christ calls attention to it, not because there was any doubt, but so His work may be known publicly. It is only when the whole truth is evidenced in this fashion that a greater healing is encountered.

In this instance, Christ is shown to be one who could provide what no other could - an end to continual suffering and exclusion, purely by the woman recognising His unique exclusive virtue over what had befallen her.

In our present day, we are continually told that particular 'remedies' are the exclusive, universal means to health and safety for all, but in truth, whilst they may indeed alleviate a measure of immediate troubles, they often do so riding upon a pretence that the haven they provide will be a panacea of protection when all ascribe to their requirements. What place, then, for a saviour like Jesus, who reveals where such measures leave us crippled and so He calls us to something eternally certain amidst our raging world.

So, here we are, amidst the numerous currents of the time, no doubt affirming and rejecting in varying degrees the actions and statements of the day, bustling along like that crowd surrounding Jesus when this woman came...

but will we connect to what is deeper... what is  necessary.

My thoughts scrawled here will pass, as will these few lines, lost to all before to long, no doubt, but this moment we have viewed together - of astonishing transformation, evidenced on a day so long ago, will ripple into eternity. That is the manner of the encounter God is seeking for us all, as we meet His unique, transforming, eternal Son.