As I walked the area around my home I noticed that the ferns which have flourished during the summer season are starting to brown. Yet, there are a variety of mushrooms popping up in apparent health. Some are the dull tan/gray color which I consider “normal” mushrooms to be, others are orange and even purple! I’m no mushroom expert (and not really interested in learning), but I can say that God’s capacity for creativity is always on display, even if it’s just in the “lowly” mushroom family.
I was thinking about how the appearance of those mushrooms changes day to day. One day it’s tiny, soon enough it’s full grown, then it’s molding or blackening as it dies away. Each day is a snapshot in the life of that particular mushroom. Similarly, much of our lives are just moments – just “snapshots” – that are a part of a larger whole picture. The grumpy man in front of you at the grocery store may have just found out he has cancer and is overcome with fear and grief. The driver that just cut you off may have just come from a job interview that didn’t go well and the disappointment and destructive self-talk are eating her alive. The young woman who recently showed up at church and seems so joyful and happy may have recently been delivered from a life of sex trafficking and drug addiction. There’s no way to spend time and hear the full stories of every person we encounter, but what we see in a moment is just a small picture of the totality of their lives and who they are.
Similarly, many of the people we honor as “heroes of the faith” in the Bible we really know very little about. People like Jesus or David or Moses may have a lot of words devoted to their stories, but many, many questions are left unanswered. A small, short, simple story can have great spiritual meanings, but is only a snapshot of the person’s life.
“A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.” (Mark 5:24-29 NIV)
Snapshot: Woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years was healed when she touched Jesus’s cloak.
But who was she? What was her name? Was she a mom? Young or old? We know from studies of first century Jewish culture she was probably a cultural outcast. So, how did she support herself? Did she work to get money to buy food? Did she still live with her parents? How did she come to know about Jesus? Why did she believe that if she touched his clothes she would be healed? What happened in her life after the healing?
I love knowing what Paul Harvey used to call “the rest of the story,” and someday maybe I will meet this woman in heaven and be able to ask her all those questions. Yet, as I encounter the Bible, I have to realize that God put in there what he wanted us to know. Does it matter where she lived or how she supported herself or even her name? I doubt it. The point is that her faith in Jesus led to her healing.
“At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
“But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” (Mark 5:30-34 NIV)
This is the snapshot moment God needed us to see and hear. The woman who had suffered so much came in faith – even trembling with fear – to Jesus for healing. In response, Jesus gave her a new picture for her life: “Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
God of the Snapshots,
Thank you for the beautiful things you have created in this world. From ferns and mushrooms to animals and people we love, we thank you for sharing your immense creativity with us and for planting some of that within us. Thank you that each moment of each day is its own unique “snapshot” of life and help us to live our lives in such a way that our snapshots together add up to a beautiful movie that portrays your goodness and grace. Thank you for peeks into the lives of people who live and lived places of deep faith, like the women who had bled for twelve years, and for her example of faith and courage. Help us to interact with others knowing that each moment is only a part of a person’s entire story and to speak grace, mercy, blessing, hope and encouragement into their lives. May we help others to come in faith to you for salvation, healing, and so much more so that they may go in peace and be freed from their suffering. We ask in Christ’s name, Amen.
