Mark 5:25-26 CEV

In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years.

She had gone to many doctors, and they had not done anything except cause her a lot of pain. 

She had paid them all the money she had. But instead of getting better, she only got worse.

Mark 5:25-26 CEV

Do you ever wonder how Mark (or the other Gospel writers) captured people's stories?

Did they talk to them afterwards?

Did Jesus tell them later?

However they found out these 2 stories of Jarius, the keeper of the Temple, and this person who is only known by her limitation, are just two people in the crowd. How many others were there in that crowd with their own stories of grief, loss, disability, illness?

When I meet anyone am I meeting a Jarius?

Am I meeting a fellow sufferer?

When I look at any group of people, at work, where we study, at church, in our sports and recreation activities, people who may have a happy shiny outside, what stories are they holding and carrying?

Jarius had position, power, and had a successful life on the outside.

The woman at the centre of these verses successfully hid her illness, otherwise she couldn't have been in the crowd.

Jesus was in the crowd, saw the crowd, and saw the person. 

The one.

And he calls us to follow him, towards the ill, the suffering, the grieving, to bring his hope, grace & love.

#gospelofMark #invitation 

#steptowards