sermons
The Way of Jesus
Healing as Presence
Lydia Shiu
Oct 19, 2025
Good morning, My name is Lydia Shiu, My pronouns are she/her or they/them, you can use them interchangeably. I’m preaching today with a word about healing through the Way of Jesus, specifically Healing as Presence. Let me read the scripture text for us first, pray to get us started.
Mark 5:25-34 (New International Version)
25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.
26 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.
27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”
29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.
33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.
34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Would you pray with me?
God,
I’m going to go out on a limb here today and say that I hope that this right here, right now, will be an opportunity for miraculous healing. Not because of my words, but because You have called us here today to this moment. You made us in the image and likeness of you. And in us, you gave us the same everflowing breath of life that hovered over the waters in creations. No matter what followed thereafter, whether there was sin that entered the story, a fall from grace or a falling out of a relationship, the story of you God interacting with the world, the rest of the stories in the Bible, is afterall about restoring us back to that place of wholeness you originally created us to be. So restore us oh God, and help us as we gather this Sunday morning or every other day that the Reservoir community and friends gather in community groups or whatever throughout the week–that we might be in the business or the art and work of restoration and healing, even now. Amen
I have a junk corner in my living room of things that I hopefully would like to mend one day. One is a red and white button down shirt that I really like on my son Jesse. It makes him look so dapper and cute, which I got as a hand-me-down from my friend Cara. The button popped off and I really want to fix it so he can wear it again. The button is in the ziplock bag, you see the ziplock bag? The other is a pair of shorts that are really comfortable and somewhat fits me after having two children. There’s a hole in it, but it is very precious to me. But this junk corner is my little secret. If you ever come over to my house, I would probably hide it in my closet so you wouldn’t see it.
My mind and heart and spirit feel like this little junk corner these days. Like I know I just need to take the time to pull them out, try to do something with them. But it feels daunting because what if I open up the ziplock and the button is not even there. And it takes too much time and effort. So I just stuff it and everytime I notice it, it gives me anxiety and longing and hope and dread all at once. You ever feel that way?
There are things that my heart is just brokenhearted about these days. I’ve been so overwhelmed by the news cycle, Bri, our Youth Group Director, was giving me a tip to take in only as much as you can pray for. But I really don’t. I consume the news and content about the world happenings and pile up the junk corner with one depressing news after another but I never take the time to tend to it, to mend my heart back, to ground myself in the expansiveness of God under the stars instead of headlines.
So my talk today is an invitation to both you and me, to bring it down, lay out the torn fabric on our laps, give ourselves the space and the permission to behold the precious and broken dreams and things to say, we must be here and present with ourselves and one another, because Jesus, Jesus wants to see us hold on to that cloak. To notice him. To desperately grab a hold of him with great resolve and expectation. And for ourselves to be seen by him. And that maybe there could be a place of healing.
I invite us to think about Healing as Presence. In the Presence of Jesus, as one who shows up for us. In the Presence for ourselves, showing up for ourselves. And the Presence for Others, showing up for others. Those are my three points.
So first, the presence of Jesus.
In today’s Scripture Jesus goes out of his way to make eye contact and connect with this woman.
There are parts of this text that perplex me. Mainly v. 29
“Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”
Now I don’t know how that happened or if I believe that it happened but I believe that maybe that’s what she told as her story and how the story was captured. That I believe. I can’t tell you with accuracy how or if instant healing works. I still pray for it, especially when I’m in pain or my kids are in pain. My faith sometimes is not great, perhaps with many doubts, but I sure fling my doubt at God with a fit and say, please, please just make this pain go away right now.
One year after graduating college, without a job, I was at my parent’s place, just being in the comfort of my parents’ house in my mid 20’s, where my mom did my laundry and cooked me all my favorite Korean foods. And there I was working on my application to seminaries. I was working on my essays, explaining how I feel called by God. But at some point, as the deadline was approaching, I broke out in hives. It was itchy and it spread quickly. I remember typing at my computer and scratching myself in between. We couldn’t figure out what it was. We tried all the creams from the med closet. Since doctor visits are expensive and I probably didn’t have insurance, because, no job, we stopped by the pharmacy where our family friend worked. She recommended a cream too but it didn’t work either. At some point, someone stopped by our house and dropped off a big plastic bag of dried leaves. Honestly it looked like weed.
My mom said it was SSOOK, which I just looked up in English this week and apparently it’s mugwort. Google tells me that it’s good for digestive health, menstrual regulation, that it has anti-inflammatory properties,
“making it beneficial for treating skin conditions such as eczema.”
I chuckled to myself at the thought of my mom and her ancient wisdom ways that Google affirmed. (If you’re playing Lydia sermon bingo, you might’ve just gotten bingo with the mentions of my mom, Korean, food, seminary and ancient wisdom.) My mother boiled the dried leaves and just dipped her fingers into the dark green tea water and dabbed them all over my body multiple times that day. The next day my rash was gone. This is my one and only story of instant physical healing that I personally have. And in another time in my life, I would’ve described it as the devil trying to get in my way of going to seminary, you know they be showing up right when you’re about to bring glory to God, and that God healed me. The overnight disappearance of the rash that was giving me so much trouble for days, spreading, torturing me, felt truly miraculous. Healing through the way of some Korean woman who probably got the leaves on a hike, dried it herself in her backyard as old Asian ladies would, like this
Look at the top left, that’s probably mugwort. This is how they do it, the Korean ladies. Sorry this was important for me to show. So these practices of these moms being moms, this community, was the ministry of Jesus for me and to me as I followed his call into ministry. They showed up. My mom, the pharmacist, the mugwort handler. They showed up for me in ways that were not from a place of power but healing. It wasn’t an expensive legitimized professional institution of healthcare, but I was seen, touched, cared for and healed.
And so, even though I don’t exactly know how Jesus healed this lady. But I take her word for it. And that he went out of his way to look for her and see her. I think the way of Jesus isn’t just Jesus’ disembodied voice striking you in a metaphysical way, but more often than not, I think Jesus shows up in a very physical way of the church, or the old lady, or a friend’s text, or a warm meal. I think Jesus shows up sometimes in such ordinary ways through ordinary people, that we miss it and look for some holy writing on the wall.
I think Christians and believers often make the mistake of being too theological and philosophical about the way of Jesus. I was listening to a podcast called A People’s Theology
An episode about “What Can Process Theology Learn from Liberation Theology?” Process Theology is a way of thinking about God as a kind of developing process kind of way, that God is in this process with us in this life, not just a never changing all knowing God who moves with us. Liberation theology comes primarily from Black and Latin theologians who see God as one who frees people from their bondedness. And the critique of process theology from the liberation theologian essentially explained that you can think your way through about how God is but it doesn’t do anything to not actually put that into real act of liberation of the people to eradicate genocide, stand against colonialism, working to liberate the very folks who are in bondage right now.
This is essentially my problem with the personal savior Jesus, though I have heard Jesus’ gentle voice in my prayer who saved me from my self-destructive thoughts, but it dwindles Jesus down to a mental exercise rather than a physical one. Jesus shows up not as a thought, but as a presence. I would venture to say that’s literally the central point of Jesus, a God with us, Emmanuel.
- My invitation is for us to see that Jesus is looking for you now, perhaps through people who are reaching out to you, looking for you, asking, where are you?
- What’s going on with you?
- Where in your life do you see Jesus in action, not just in a holy moly theological study way, but a real tangible way that impacts your day?
Go there, grab a hold of that cloak.
That moves me to my second point, presence, showing up, for yourself.
I heard a guy say,
“I’m no longer fighting for Social Justice. and started healing towards integrity instead.”
And he started talking about how instead of fighting our enemies, tending to our needs, knowing that when we have the integrity to meet our real needs, it actually gives us the integrity to recognize the real needs of others, even our “enemies.” It gives us the eyes to see that, it’s not our need against our enemies’ needs, but that we’re all one. He offered that healing yourself is an act of resistance and the fight for justice.
So for you, what does it look like for you to tend to yourself right now? To show up for yourself. Don’t worry about others for now, okay? Just you. What do you need from yourself? The most powerful activists and organizers are doing this first, and doing it after, and every other day to keep that in the fight.
Here’s a good resource for the work. Our Many Selves: A Handbook for Self-Discovery by Elizabeth O’Connor.
O’Connor says this in the book,
“Unwillingness to experience the suffering which is ours to bear pushes it into the very deeps of us. This never deals with it. It finds its way back in a disguised form. That form may be an indefinable shadow over the future that fills us with dread. Or it may be, that bitterness and anger become the signs of our refusal to give suffering an audience and to be taught by it. There is a suffering which we overcome by struggling with it, and there is a suffering which we overcome by acceptance. There are even some who argue that all suffering, to be overcome, must first be accepted else we strike out blindly, missing the real point of engagement. If we are willing to experience our suffering, which is what is meant by acceptance, it will in turn allow us to go on to the claims of new feelings that belong to different hours.”
Ancient wisdom Says there is a
“time to weep” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).
It is the wisdom of Rachel:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
She refused to be consoled,
Because they were no more.”
as it says in Matthew 2:18
If you want healing, we must make time for ourselves to weep… before we act. Heal so that we can move.
- How can you exercise self care that isn’t in the form of buying yourself something nice, but where you have a safe place to breakdown and cry?
- How can you give yourself mini-rituals of showing up for yourself with empathy and compassion in your day or your week?
Plan it. Like strategically plan it. And have accountability for it.
- Who can help you in this?
- Pray with you about it?
- Do you have people?
Do you need to find a community group and build some relationships that can grow into such spaces? Email [email protected] if you don’t have a community group right now, or want to find another one.
Just as Jesus looked for her, he looks for you. Show up. Let yourself be seen, not in your glory or in a fight but in your pain and suffering, in your brokenness. Let yourself kneel and cry, however that might look for you.
And lastly, show up for others.
One of my favorite internet videos of all time is, First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy. Have you seen it? You know what I’m talking about? It’s the one where one guy starts dancing. And by himself just dancing, he’s a lone nut. But at some point another person joins him. This is when it becomes critical, because with a follower the first guy turns from a lone nut to a leader. And because of the first follower, another person follows and now you have a movement.
So here’s my invitation for you, a real practical way you can show up for others. When someone starts to dance, Be the first follower. Join in. After all, dancing is actually one of my favorite forms of healing.
One way you can show up for yourself and others in the next few weeks I’ll make an invitation to you, sorry that’s not dancing is:
Faith Into Action, our church’s ministry of social justice, in concert with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, is embarking on a season of building power by gathering and listening to one another. Yes, it’s time for House Meetings. Like I said, it starts with tending to ourselves, finding our own story, and showing up to tell it, and showing up for others to listen to theirs, that is the work we begin with in community organizing. There’s a House Meeting coming up on
November 9th, 11-12pm
Ministry Center Dining Room
It’ll be led by myself and Julia. And there will be other House Meetings coming up in the coming months. I hope you’ll join us.
Or if not this, I invite you to come up with a plan, how can you exercise presence for others this week, this month? How can you show up for others simply as a presence? You don’t have to fix anything. Let me repeat that. in fact, please don’t try to fix anything. I know it’s so hard! Just show up. Just see them and hear them, that is all.
I’d love to close us with this
Let’s go ahead and do a brief practice of presence, inviting God to be present with you, as you show up for yourself, here and now, and tend to where your heart might be right now with our breath and holy affirmation. If you feel so led, would you join me in doing this together. Maybe put your hand on your heart to have a physical connection. And breathe. And say to yourself.
- Inhale: “I am here.”
- Exhale: “God is here.”
- Inhale: “I am here.
- Exhale: “That is enough.”
Amen