Taking the Time to See

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are a reflection on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://www.myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

Whether it’s lingering memories from being picked last or not at all for kickball in elementary school, or more recent moments of feeling like the odd one out because our house or car isn’t up to the same standard as many people we know, we all know what it’s like to feel left out. The particularities of the situation can take many different shapes, but the root—feeling different, unwanted, outcast—remain the same.

In Luke 8 we read the story of a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. Not only did she have to deal with the physical aspects of her ailment, but in that time, this ailment that was completely out of her control would have meant she was socially, physically, and religiously isolated from her community. Far from being the last one picked for the kickball game, she wouldn’t have even been welcome to sit in the stands to watch.

So I can only imagine what was going through this woman’s mind when she heard that Jesus was going to be in the area. She had spent all she had on doctors, trying to find someone who could make her well, so maybe she was thinking that Jesus was her last chance. I had always thought of this story only in physical, medical terms—she had been bleeding for twelve years, and suddenly, she no longer was. But when Jesus healed her, he broke down all the barriers for her—the social, physical, and religious ones. Perhaps she had family and friends who hadn’t talked to her or spent time with her in years, and once she was healed they did again, or maybe she started a completely new life, one she had hardly dared dream of all those years she was sick.

Whatever it was, it all began because Jesus was willing to break down barriers. While the healing took place as soon as the woman touched Jesus' cloak, he took the time to stop. He talked to her at a time when it's likely that very few people were doing the same. He saw her.

In our society, we don't often isolate people in as noticeable of ways as what this woman endured. But it still happens. We've all felt it, and likely even inflicted it at times as well. The question is, are we willing to notice? Will we, like Jesus, stop and take the time to talk to the people no one else seems to want to acknowledge? Will we take the time to really see them, to break down a barrier in whatever small way we can?

[Brianna DeWitt attends Encounter Church and lives, works, and writes in Grand Rapids, MI. You can see more of her musings on her personal blog at http://awritespot.wordpress.com and on Twitter at @bwitt722.]