It is entirely possible to be surrounded by people and still feel profoundly alone. We can sit in a crowded sanctuary, attend a family gathering, walk into a busy workplace, or scroll through hundreds of social media connections and still wonder if anyone really sees us.
The woman who reaches for Jesus' cloak in the Gospel of Mark knew something about that kind of isolation. She had been bleeding for twelve years. Mark tells us that she had suffered under the care of many physicians and spent everything she had, yet instead of getting better, she had grown worse.
But her suffering wasn't only physical. Under the religious and cultural practices of her time, her bleeding made her ritually unclean. For twelve years, her illness would have affected how she participated in her community, her relationships, and her religious life. We don't even know her name. Scripture simply remembers her by what was wrong with her: the woman with the issue of blood.
Imagine what twelve years of that might do to a person.
Then Jesus comes to town.
A crowd gathers around him, so large that people are pressing against one another. Somewhere in that crowd is this woman. She has heard about Jesus, and she believes that if she can simply touch his clothes, she might be healed.
She reaches out.
She touches his cloak.
And Jesus stops.
"Who touched my clothes?" he asks.
The disciples are baffled. Everyone is touching him. They're in the middle of a crowd. From their perspective, his question doesn't make sense.
But Jesus knows the difference between being surrounded by people and encountering a person.
He looks for her. That's the part of this story I find so moving. Jesus could have kept walking. The woman had already received what she came for. Her body was healed. The problem, it would seem, had been solved. But Jesus wasn't finished.
He stops long enough for her to come forward. He listens as she tells him "the whole truth." And then he calls her something remarkable.
"Daughter."
The woman who had been identified by her condition is given a name of belonging.
Perhaps that is another kind of healing.
We live in an extraordinarily connected world. Most of us can communicate instantly with people hundreds or thousands of miles away. We carry devices that allow us to send messages, photographs, opinions, and updates to more people in a day than previous generations might have encountered in a month.
- And still, people are lonely.
- Still, people feel invisible.
- Still, people walk into our churches wondering if anyone will notice whether they came.
Sometimes what we need most isn't another connection.
We need to be seen.
Jesus models a kind of attentiveness that feels almost radical in our hurried world. He notices the individual in the crowd. He allows himself to be interrupted. He pays attention to someone others might easily have overlooked.
- What would happen if our churches became known for that kind of attention?
- What if we noticed the person who always slips out immediately after worship?
- What if we learned the name of the person who sits alone?
- What if we called the church member who hasn't been there lately, not to ask why they haven't attended, but simply to ask how they are?
- What if we looked up from our phones long enough to notice the person sitting across from us?
Flourishing requires connection, but connection requires more than proximity. It requires attention. It asks us to slow down enough to recognize the human being standing in the middle of the crowd.
There are people all around us reaching for the edge of community, hoping someone will notice.
Jesus did.
Perhaps this week, we can too.
Who in your life might need to know that they are seen?
Until next week, may we keep learning, growing, and flourishing together.
Teresa Angle-Young is a United Methodist clergy, Master Certified Coach, author, and educator who helps clergy and congregations flourish. She is a co-owner of the Clergy Coaching Network and creator of courses and resources focused on leadership, grief, church growth, and healthy ministry. She is co-author of the book, Creation's Call.
December 3 Webinar with Teresa Angle-Young
Join Teresa on December 3 for her CEU 1-hour webinar at ClergyEducation.com titled, "Every Pastor is a Grief Pastor."