Take Heart, Daughter

While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’ And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’ Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, ‘Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district. Matthew 9:18-26 

One of the things that always strikes me about this story in Matthew is Jesus' compassion for a suffering parent with a dying daughter and a long-suffering woman. In both situations the world has given up on these two women, but Jesus has not and heals them. We find Jesus interacting with and healing many women in the Gospels. This is counter cultural for his time (and in some places, even ours). Women throughout history have been treated as inferior to men, fragile and incapable of leadership and strength. Yet Jesus considered them important to save, important to heal, essential to the life of faith. And so we can all take heart, because the overlooked and disregarded have become important and essential.

Gracious Creator, you love all of creation

and shower your love on every creature

drawing close to those on the margin

choosing to heal the outcasts and aliens.

We see some as better than others

withholding the good things from those

who are not chosen, not the good ones

yet you see us all as good and love us all.

Help us to love those who challenge us

help us to love those who confuse and scare us

give us enough love to share with the least

for we will always find you on the margins. Amen.