Love Tenderly, Vulnerably and Fiercely

The Gospel is Matthew 9:9-13,v18-26

It is easier to define what is pure than what is holy, so we pretend these are interchangable.

Holiness is about “union with” and purity is about “separation from.” Jesus is holiness incarnate; the Pharisees were about purity codes.

There was no separation between Jesus and the bleeding woman. Jesus touched a dead girl and she came alive. In both instances, Jesus embodied holiness, uniting himself with those who were considered unclean, impure.

Jesus touched human bodies deemed unclean as if they were holy. He kept violating boundaries of “decency” to get to the people on the other side of the boundary. He cared about real holiness, the connection between things human and Divine.

The boundaries and rules may be intended to protect the sacredness of our being, but if they become more important than that which we seek to protect, they don’t serve us well.

In the second half of life, we have the opportunity to remove the barriers that protected our apparently vulnerable inner child of God, but which also walled us off from holiness, from connection. We can learn to love tenderly, vulnerably and fiercely.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.