So we got that unfortunate story about the hamster from the other day that I accidentally

killed and it was an accident and I do feel terrible in the basement of my house when I was a kid.

And the two big things that come out of that story for me or for our purposes are the absolute immovable truth that is death and the immovable

reality that we face that is social stuff. There are things that exist in the

shared hive mind culturally amongst us that are absolutely true and real

even though they're invisible and death is invisible too until it happens.

It's just this thing that lingers out there and in Matthew

chapter 9 starting in verse 18 we've been looking at this passage where both of

those realities come up together perhaps the two most immovable objects in all of the human experience,

they're both on display in this story

as we pick it up in verse 18, which says,

while he, that's Jesus, was saying this

at the party he was at,

a ruler came and knelt before him and said,

my daughter has just died but come

and put your hand on her and she will live. This is a very bold move on the part of this

man who was the ruler of the synagogue, the local minister, push comes to shove. he's got to grab for the one rope of the two that he believes is actually going to hold his weight and save his life or save that which matters to him

And he grabs for the rope that is Jesus, not the rope that is the

thing that he's been a part of.

So Jesus doesn't say anything, he just says he got up and went with him and so did his disciples.

Just then, so we're in transit now, a woman who'd been subject to bleeding for 12 years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.

She said to herself, if I can only touch his cloak, I'll be healed.

...