In today’s gospel reading we see that no sooner had Jesus landed on the other side of the lake, once again he was surrounded by crowds. They came with their insistent demands. It is human nature that we should come to Jesus to get things from him, for there are so many things that he alone can give. But it is a shame to take and give nothing in return.
Perhaps there are those who simply make use of their friends. There are others who never receive any news unless they want something in return. There are also those who regard other people as existing to help them when they need their help and to be forgotten when they cannot be made use of. There are still those who simply make use of the church. They desire the Church to baptize their children, to marry their young people and bury their dead. Except for these occasions, they seldom see the inside of their church at any other time. It is their unconscious attitude that the Church exists to serve them, but that they have no duty whatever towards the Church.
Then there are those who seek simply to make use of God. They never remember God unless they need him. Their only prayers are requests and even demands made to God. They often regard God as one to be summoned when they need something.
If we examine ourselves, we are all, to some extent, guilty of these things. It would rejoice the heart of Jesus if we came to him to offer our love, our service and our devotion more often, and less often to demand from him the help we need. Today’s gospel reading says that all who touched Jesus were healed. The goal of every Christian should be to become like Christ that when those who suffer touch our lives, they are healed by the presence of Jesus in us.
Are there people where we live, work or worship that are trying to touch the Jesus in us? Are we letting them? Or is there something in us that blocks their approach?
Do we seem closed off in our own world of concerns? Are they afraid that we will get annoyed or perhaps even push them away?
As Christians, when people encounter us, they should also encounter Jesus and his love, his joy, his peace, his healing and all the good news of the gospel truth. If we are truly Christian, when people touch our lives, they touch the tassel of Jesus’ cloak. We never know how it is going to happen, so we have to be ready. We are tassels on the cloak of Jesus. Let us not be afraid of the hands that come at us. Instead, let us thank and praise God for this opportunity. Those who see that we love Jesus, instructively realize that when they touch us, they touch Jesus.
