Enough is Enough

Our preacher brought us a great sermon yesterday. He called it “Enough is Enough.” It was based on the woman who secretly touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed. One of the pictures associated with today’s blog is a powerful mural of that scene from Mark 5. The picture is on a wall of a chapel in Magdala, Galilee. Richard verbally painted the picture of this woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. She had spent all her money and had “suffered much” from the doctors she had asked for help. She had done everything she knew to do, and nothing had worked. There was nowhere else to turn, so she turned to Jesus. She had had enough!

Richard went on to talk of the ways in which our lives might lead us to a place where we have had enough – in relationships, in job loss, in isolation because of COVID, in fighting some addiction. And he said that should tell us we need to turn to Jesus. When you have tried everything else and nothing is working, turn to Jesus. Jesus has been there all the time, waiting for you to turn to Him.

But there is more. On Saturday, Richard and Charlene and I and many others had spent the day on our laptops with the Minneapolis Racial Leadership Virtual Summit called “Treating the Root of Racism.” It was sponsored by the Carl Spain Center out of Abilene University and hosted by Dr. Russell Pointer and the Minneapolis Central Church of Christ. It was a great presentation, calmly and respectfully presented. It included panels on topics like “White Rage” and “Black Rage” and the various speakers reviewed several important books. They suggested what our responsibilities are at this time. In his message Sunday morning, Richard drew the parallel between the Galilean woman with the issue of blood and Black people having reached their limit – both have had enough. Watching the officer with his knee on George Floyd’s neck exceeded their limit. Like the woman who had had "enough," they had too.