The vestment that I am
wearing was a gift from my parents. A few weeks ago, my mother walked into a
store that sold priestly vestments. There were hundreds of vestments in the
store. There were also clergy shirts and black suits and collars and rosaries
and chalices and basically everything else a priest might want or need. My
mother said two things: “I didn’t realize that you priests have your own
stores,” and then “I want to give you a new vestment, but it has to be green.”
Green is my mother’s favorite color. I am forty-one years old, a priest for
nine years and a pastor for almost six, and my mother is still picking out my
clothes!
Clothes are
interesting, they can tell us things. Sometimes our clothes say where we work.
Sometimes our clothes say where we went to school or where we want to go to
school. Sometimes our clothes show we are part of group or an organization.
Sometimes our clothes show our favorite football or World Cup team. And
sometimes our clothes show that we went to Vacation Bible School and learned
that Jesus rescues. Clothes are interesting, they can tell us things.
But for the woman who
had been sick for twelve years, clothes had power. There are very few people in
the Scriptures that I admire more than this woman. Oh I love the praying of
Peter and the preaching of Paul and the poetry of John. I love Our Lady and
Mary Magdalene and Martha who is always hard at work in Bethany. But this woman
whose name we do not know has a trust and a faith and a determination and a
confidence in the healing power of Jesus Christ that I hope to have.
She has suffered. She
has suffered from illness. She has suffered from doctors. She has suffered from
isolation. She has suffered from poverty. And yet, she believes in the healing
power of Jesus. She knows that if only she could touch his clothing that she
would be healed. She pushes her way through the crowd. Nothing will prevent her
from getting to Jesus. The crowds will not prevent her. Her illness will not
prevent her. Her shame will not prevent her. She will touch the clothes of
Jesus and she will be healed. She is faithful and determined. She is confident
and courageous. She reveals her weakness to Jesus and her faith in his power to
heal. I want to have that kind of faith and I want to have that kind of
courage. I want to touch the clothes of Jesus and be healed in the depths of my
soul.
And maybe you do too.
Maybe you want to touch the clothes of Christ this morning. Maybe you have been
suffering for twelve years or more or less. Maybe a doctor knows your pain.
Maybe your family knows your pain. Maybe your pastor knows your pain. Maybe
only Jesus knows your pain. And this morning you want to touch the clothes of
Jesus Christ and be healed.
But we will do more
than that.
With more than his
clothing, Jesus comes to meet us. It is not our hand that reaches out to meet
him, but his hand that reaches out the meet you and me. Christ comes near to us
in the Word proclaimed and in his Body and Blood. We approach him in faith and
confidence. We approach him in weakness and suffering. We approach him as he
approaches us to find mercy and compassion and healing.
And then we discover
that we have been clothed in Christ. The garment we wanted to touch we now
wear. The power of mercy and the presence of healing grace that we wanted to
receive, we now carry. More than a sign of our job or our team, we wear the
cloths of the Savior and we radiate the healing power of the Jesus.
