GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 5:30
Self Knowledge
br> Most parents acquire an internal lie detector with their children. A twitching of the eye, an unusual posture, or a change in the voice is a clue to parents that the last statement did not pass the truth test. Parents simply know within themselves. How? Maybe their own childhood whoppers alert them to the signs of fibs, or perhaps through practical experience or training. Most children are surprised that their parents recognize falsehoods so easily.
br> Spouses develop the same self-knowledge—or they had better. They know, for example, when they’ve pleased their mate—whether through a smile, a twinkle of the eye, an embrace, or a kiss. Of course, the opposite is also true—the signs of displeasure. I often jest that after 64 years, I’ve finally learned how to be a spouse—well, it’s really only a half-jest, a hope that I’ve learned something. It usually takes a while to acquire self-knowledge about what makes a spouse tick, or as an acquaintance said, what ticks them off!
br> In St. Mark’s account of a suffering woman who came close enough to Jesus in a crowd to touch his garment, the evangelist wrote, “And immediately, Jesus, knowing in himself power from him had gone out, turning about in the crowd said, ‘Who touched my garments?’” (Mark 5:30) People pressed against him, yet he knew within himself that someone’s touch was unusual. His own self-knowledge alerted him to this change.
br> The writer said that Jesus’ awareness arose because “power from him had gone out”—self-knowledge. Helpers who work with other people often describe their work as draining or exhausting. Investing themselves into other people drains energy or power from themselves—they know that power goes out from them. Yet their love keeps refreshing the power that they distribute.
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