Reading for today:
Ps. 80, 77, 79
Gen. 44:18-34
1 Cor. 7:25-31
Mark 5:21-42
Jesus had his “reputation” put on the line several times, and people didn’t seem to care.
The reading from today in Mark’s gospel has the story of the women with the bleeding issue. She was supposed to stay away from people. She risked her own reputation and safety to press through a thick crowd. But she also put at risk Jesus. If she touches him, she certainly risks being shoved out… but she also risks Jesus being quarantined.
She decided to put everything on the line, even the place of risking Jesus’ reputation, to find a way to healing. She doesn’t know the outcome.
But that faith caused the power to drain out of Jesus. He KNEW when someone like that touched him.
Jesus doesn’t mind his reputation being on the line. The principle of the Kingdom is that when the clean touches the unclean, the CLEAN “infects” the unclean. The world system has it backwards: When the clean touches the unclean, the unclean infects the clean. We’re germophobes. The Kingdom reverses that thinking.
Put Jesus’ reputation on the line. He admires “shameless audacity.”
Apprentice 2 Jesus 