Encounters with Jesus - Pt 12

And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. (Matthew 9:20-22 ESV).

It was one of those crowds that make you wish you had stayed home. It was a shoulder-to-shoulder, slow-moving, suffocating mass of humanity. In the middle it all, with teeth clenched against her pain, with limbs trembling from her weakness, and her heart throbbing with the dread of exposure and the agonizing fear of yet another failure, a woman pushed her way inch by determined inch closer to Jesus. She had heard so much about this man. She heard so much that it had ignited a small flicker of hope in the deep darkness of her helplessness and despair. So much that she was here in this crowd, coming closer and closer, and, with her one last hope for healing, reaching towards his cloak, she touches the hem of his garment. Here in silent prayer, she commits herself to him. I’m sure she wondered whether he would be offended, especially since she was considered a ritually unclean woman. She had to wonder if she would be rejected and shamed for this outlandish act of desperation. Of course she had heard the stories. They were encouraging and brought her hope. He touched that man with leprosy, and healed him. He touched that coffin in Nain, and handed its victim back to his mother. He welcomed the touch of that prostitute in Simon's house and proclaimed her forgiven. Surely he will not reject her touch. The tassels on his cloak quivered with the rhythm of his footsteps. All around the crowd pressed against him. No one notices the frail hand that touches those tassels for a fleeting moment. No one notices the veiled woman shrinking back into the crowd. No one knows the strength and joy that is flooding her being. No one noticed except Jesus. He heard the unspoken prayer. He felt the fragile fingers of her faith. And he answered and healed. But he will not let her hide. Both the woman and the crowd need to know that she is no longer ritually unclean, no longer excluded from worship, no longer a threat to their ritual cleanness. And the woman needs to be assured that it was her faith in Him that was the key factor in her healing, not coincidence, not superstition. And then they all hear his loving, liberating words: “Daughter, you faith has healed you. Go in peace” (v. 22). Are those the words you long to hear? Then reach out and touch Him with your heart!