Faith Daily | 5 July 2021

PRAYER of the DAY - PENTECOST APBA p552

O God,

you have prepared for those who love you

such good things as pass our understanding:

pour into our hearts such love toward you,

that, loving you above all things,

we may obtain your promises

which exceed all that we can desire;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

GOSPEL for the Day: Matthew 9: 18-26

18 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.’ 19And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. 20Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, 21for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’ 22Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well. 23When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a commotion, 24he said, ‘Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. 25But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26And the report of this spread throughout that district.

GOSPEL Reflection: Contributed by: Penny Graham

There have been other versions of Jesus's healings. In Mark & Luke, they have had more details about Jesus's healings of these particular people than it does in Matthew.

In particular, the young 12 year old girl who is 'presumed to have died' and the older woman who has been bleeding for 12 years intermittently.

A synagogue leader has come up to Jesus, and asked if he could lay his hand on his child that appears to have ' died'. Jesus came with his disciples to see the child and immediately goes to where the child is, and heals her. The onlookers laughed at him and it was obvious that they did not believe in what he had just done, because they had never seen this done before.

Faith is everything and seeing is believing. It means everything to me to have a strong faith in Jesus and his teachings.

Another healing by Jesus, is the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. She believed that if she touched his garment in some way, that she might be healed. Jesus saw her, and said ' Take heart daughter, your faith has made you well'. She was healed at that very moment. This indeed was a miracle for this woman, who had been suffering for so long.

Her bleeding was seen to be a sign of uncleanliness in those days, and that anything that she touched would have also become unclean. This didn't worry Jesus at any time during his ministry here on Earth.

All people deserve to be treated as equal, no matter what their afflictions are, or have been. We are all human beings, as seen through God's eyes.

FINAL PRAYER: APBA p 557

O Christ for whom we search,

our help when help has failed:

give us courage to expose our need

and ask to be made whole,

that, being touched by you,

we may be raised to new life

in the power of your name.

Amen.