Gina Lewis Homily

Scripture

Mark 5:25–34 NLT

A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?” His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

Mark 5

Information

What I just read to you is quite unusual for a funeral homily. I want to draw your attention to the last line, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” Gina struggled with doctors and drugs. Not illegal drugs, but the medications she was prescribed to treat her condition. I think she was constantly reaching for the fringe of Jesus’ robe but just couldn’t quite reach it. On jan. 2 she finally touched his robe.

You know there is a difference between healing and curing. One can be healed and not cured or cured at not healed. We see this woman in the scripture is both and now so is Gina. “Daughter your faith has made you well.” Gina’s faith had made her well. I have only know Gina for the past 8 years and those years have been a struggle for her, especially the last 5. The last time I saw her was when she was in the hospital a few weeks ago when they couldn’t seem to figure out what was wrong. She asked me then are you here because I am going to die? I told her no and that I hadn’t hear anything about her death being near. I told her about Mark Twain was death was erroneously reported when his cousin died and a reporter became confused. Gina I said the reports of your death are an exaggeration. We both had a laugh.

When I cam here 8 years ago I had lunch with the previous Pastor a couple of times. One of my questions to him was, “Are there folks with any special needs?” He told my a story or two about Gina. I never experienced anything like he said. He didn’t say anything derogatory, and I am sure the stories were true, yet I didn’t see anything he described.

I found Gina to be pleasant, good sense of humor, a strong faith. She certainly knew this church backwards and forwards. She knew what made it tick and where the skeletons were. and she wasn’t afraid to tell me and I appreciated that. She was always straight forward, sometimes lacking a filter, but you knew exactly where she stood and where you stood with her. That kind of honesty is quite rare.

I remember one time when I was visiting her in her first nursing home in Cleveland. She realized, although she didn’t like it very much, that in the nursing home they kept track of her medications and she welcomed that. She knew what could happen if they got messed up.

After 20 years in the ministry I have seen just about everything in a nursing home . . . (tell story). She also told me how much she missed coming here to church.

Gina and i enjoyed ribbing each other I would call her Virginia which is her middle name and she would call me Lindsey we both had a good laugh with that. it started when she told me her name was Mary Virginai, don;t remember why that came up, but the next Sunday I said hi Virginia and without hesitation. She said hi Lindsey. Ho do you know my middle name I asked. She just grinned and said I l know lots of things. That’s as far as i went with that!

Once I was finishing up a sermon and was making a dramatic point at the end . . .(tell story)

About a year ago she found a boy friend and he would attend church with her. It wasn't too long after that that he passed away. She was upset because she didn't believe he got the medical attention he deserved. She kind of turned on her nursing home from that day forward. She wanted to go somewhere else. That’s easy to understand. Like I said t, you always knew where she stood. This was a characteristic that made her a wonderful friend. We had plenty of talks about this after church.

About a year ago she found a boy friend and he would attend church with her. It wasn't too long after that that he passed away. She was upset because she didn't believe he got the medical attention he deserved. She kind of turned on her nursing home from that day forward. She wanted to go somewhere else. That’s easy to understand. Like I said too, you always knew where she stood.

Gina had an amazing talent. She was a friend and a champion to people who were challenged mentally and physically. If you knew her you could see this unique and spiritual gift. She and Amy Cooper were great friends. I understand it was the same with Henry Rue the son of church members. He had suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident. I didn’t know the Rues but other have told me about this. I said this was a spiritual gift and it is. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit to be able to love like that.

Stephen Covey said to live, Love, laugh and leave a legacy. This quote is from a book called First Things First. Many people see it as a time management book. I don’t I see it as a book about how to set priorities. if you don’t know what you value then you do not know how to spend your time wisely.

Gina Lived, loved, laughed and we have this great legacy of faith in the presence of suffering and loving those that some people find difficult to love. Matthew says this woman with the issue of blood for 12 years. This would have made her ritually unclean. She would have had to live with others like her who were also ritually unclean. She wouldn’t be able to be with her family, or just go out for an ordinary meal. In fact in that crowd she rendered every one unclean. But such was her desperation to be cured. because of the way she had to live she wasn’t a whole person.

She knew that by touching Jesus she was going to render the great Rabbi unclean as well. But she desperately want to be whole again. Because of her condition to many people it was like she was dead. But her touch of Jesus changed all that. In fact in some translations, it is “your faith has made you whole.”

When she touched Jesus the healing was a resurrection. She could now return to society on equal terms with everyone else. Her faith resulted in her resurrection. You know in the next verse after this story jesus goes and raises a little girl from the dead. He tells the family Do not fear only believe. When we joked about her dying, she said to me, “I’m not afraid, I know where I’ll end up.”

Gina has touched Jesus robe, a touch we couldn’t give her no matter how hard we tried or wanted too and she is fully alive!

See ya later Virginia, Lindsey will see you again and what a day of rejoicing that will be.