On February 25th I made a post entitled “One Touch”. At the time I intended to finish the story with a second installment the next day, but life got busy and I put if off….that’s something I’m working in!
Finally, here is the conclusion. I decided to print the full passage so that you can refresh yourself with the story straight from the bible first. This is one of my favorite stories, because it’s so reflective of our own condition. May we have such desperation, and touch the hem of His garment as well.
Mark 5:24-34, (English standard version) “And a great crowd followed Him and thronged about Him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If I touch even His garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power had gone out from Him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing around You, and yet You say, ‘who touched Me?’” And He looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Desperation brought her to this moment. A moment where she would break every rule – risk everything, for the chance to be whole. She knew, just knew, that Jesus would heal her!
Hers was a life of suffering. Not only enduring the physical pain and sheer exhaustion, but also the shame and the loneliness…the isolation.
Did she wake up each day with a growing sense of dread and hopelessness? Can you even imagine how she must have felt? The “sameness” stretching out before her, without an end in sight. (She didn’t know what was coming. She didn’t understand how quickly everything could change!)
Yet while she waited, hoping against hope that the next method would work, God was at work. His timing was perfect. He knew the joy that would be there “in the morning”! She would be praised for years to come – and her public humiliation would become the very vehicle of her salvation. She would impact thousands of lives because of her faith. Amazing!
She stepped into the crowd, frightened yet courageous. Pressing past all those in her way, she set her sight on the one goal…to touch the hem of His garment. Little did she know that Jesus would turn to touch her very soul.
She risked possible ridicule and embarrassment (or worse), for the chance to be free. And the moment her fingers connected with the hem of Jesus’ garment, she felt the healing. The bleeding stopped! Can you imagine the joy? The shock that after all those years of hoping and praying that she would be free?
But Jesus wasn’t done yet. He called out “who touched Me”?
The disciples were immediately perplexed…if not exasperated. What do you mean who touched You? There are only at least one hundred possibilities! The people were all pressing in around Jesus, hoping for a miracle.
But why weren’t all of them shouting with joy over their own healing, if it really was that simple? What made the difference?
Faith. This was a premeditated act. The woman acted out of desperation, and believed that she would be healed. As far as I can tell, an “accidental” brush against Jesus did not illicit instantaneous healings. Jesus’ healings were always deliberate acts, and usually required something on the other persons part…some measure of faith.
But the next part is so fascinating to me. I believe that Jesus wanted to expose her. Oh, not in a cruel way…of course not. But He deliberately calls out for her to step forward. What I believe Jesus was doing was offering this precious woman a far deeper healing than only her physical health. I believe that when she fell down at His feet and confessed all that had happened, she received so much more than had she kept silent.
Luke 8:47, (ESV) tells it this way, “And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before Him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him, and how she had immediately been healed.”
Listen to what the Savior says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” Jesus honored her bravery! Do you hear the tone of His voice? The gentleness? The love?
When she realized that she couldn’t hide anymore, that helped her to overcome a huge obstacle. Since she was willing to be brave, Jesus was able to declare her healed before all the people…so she didn’t have to! I’m sure that later she would be very grateful for that.
Also, Jesus spoke to her with gentleness and respect…that was probably something that she was not accustomed to. I wonder if that influenced others to treat her more kindly? I wonder what that tenderness did to her soul? Her emotional woundings?
This is what I believe your Savior might say to you:
Trust Me, I have this…I have you! Just come to Me, and I will give you the peace that I died to give you. Don’t listen to all the other voices, My sheep hear My voice…follow Me! Are you willing to press past the obstacles in your way? I know sometimes it seems impossible, but I am not only your destination, I am also your companion. Your strength and your shield. Give Me your brokenness…your secrets…your longings. I am the one who came to bind up the brokenhearted, and to set the captives free. Just come…right now. I know about your bitter disappointments. I see that you’re hemorrhaging…bleeding out slowly. Depleted – bankrupt – desperate. The enemy tells you, and your own thoughts assail you, saying that you’re worthless, helpless, less than… But I say that you are precious. A priceless jewel that I died to buy back. I call you daughter. Let Me restore you to all that I created you to be! No good thing will I withhold from those who walk uprightly. Let Me come into those dark places and shine My eternal Light. Yes, it will expose the sin and devastation, but that is what needs to happen in order to free you. You’re clinging to the rags of your past – thinking it’s all that you have left, and it’s better than nothing. It’s all that you know. But I will exchange those rags for a beautiful garment of gladness. I will exchange the lies for the truth. I am the way the truth and the life! Come to Me with your weariness and your shattered dreams, and find in Me all that you need.
verses to ponder: Mark 5:24-34, Matthew 11:28-30
song to encourage: Nicole C. Mullen “One Touch” http://youtu.be/C7LyHDvcz3M
Thanks for the words of encouragement!
I read this story and I thought that this was the life I led. I do want to be set free! I now know that Jesus is there for me and for all of us and that He cares for me and for us all. You truly do inspire me.