March 1, 2026, Third Week of Lent Healing of the Hemorrhaging Woman
Luke 8: 40-56
This Lenten season is filled with stories of healing. Last week, it was a leper. Today a woman, and yet to come, a Paralytic, a blind man will find the healing touch of the Savior. One of Luke’s favorite techniques is on display today, a story within a story. It starts with this plea of Jairus and Jesus gets moving toward his house. Before he can get there, another story interrupts, and we are left to wonder if he will get there in time. Then, before he can finish speaking with this woman who has interrupted his journey, there comes another interruption when messengers arrive with bad news. The daughter of Jairus is dead. Finally, Jesus does some interrupting himself as he puts a stop to the grieving crowd.
These verses are about healing, but even more so, they are about one great interruption, that we might call the Messiah. The Incarnation, the Word becoming flesh is the one great interruption of this world and its godless ways. A young girl in Nazareth has her life interrupted by an angel. A carpenter named Joseph has his sleep interrupted with news about his future wife. It’s all about interruption. Jesus Christ interrupts the power of sin and death with a greater power, faith. Sickness long considered the result of sin at that time has go. Death is finished not just once with this girl, but earlier with a widow’s son, soon with Lazarus, preparing us for the final interruption of death by an empty tomb.
Now, for twelve years that woman was not allowed to enter the synagogue over which Jairus presided. Because she was “unclean.” Her presence would have interrupted things. Yet the prayers of both Jairus and this woman were granted because they dared to interrupt Jesus. Now we witness through their stories the healing power of faith. Both Jairus and that woman go out seeking Jesus, and so do we. Those who really do seek Jesus Christ are likely to experience some interruption of their normal routines or their plans when the mission of Jesus and the plan of God become suddenly obvious.
I believe that when we begin to understand our relationship with Jesus Christ and what it asks of us, we will become part of the great Interruption that is God’s plan and the mission of Jesus Christ. We will interrupt cycles of injustice, interrupt hopelessness and emptiness. We will interrupt the loneliness so many live with day by day. We will interrupt the kinds of exclusiveness that keep too many people away and kept that woman out of the Synagogue. The fear and desperation Jairus felt as he faced alone the mortality of his daughter will be interrupted by someone who cares. Watching how these interruptions worked in this Gospel should motivate us to be unafraid to interrupt Jesus with whatever it is that leaves us helpless, afraid, or hopeless like Jairus and that woman. But we ought to be careful when we do, because grace and wisdom may interrupt the routines of our lives and open our eyes to the needs around us everywhere who are waiting