Mark 5:30-34, CEB - At that very moment, Jesus
recognized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and
said, “Who touched my clothes?”
His disciples said to him, “Don’t you see the crowd
pressing against you? Yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus looked around carefully to see who
had done it.
The woman, full of fear and trembling, came forward.
Knowing what had happened to her, she fell down in front of Jesus and told him
the whole truth. He responded,
“Daughter, your faith has healed you; go in peace, healed from your disease.”
We continue working our way through this double-miracle
story involving the daughter of Jairus and the woman with the flow of
blood. Last time, we marveled at the
faith of the woman who had this bleeding ailment for 12 years who is healed by
touching Jesus’s clothes as He walked by on His way to heal Jairus’s
daughter. No one had come to Jesus to ask
Him to come heal this woman; no would have done that, for she was an
outcast. She knew that and because she
knew that, she makes the effort to get to Jesus on her own. She touches His garment and as she does, she
is indeed healed.
Jesus knows that healing power has gone out from Him, but He
does not let it pass at that. He asks
publicly “who touched my clothes?”
It seems important to Jesus to draw attention to the woman
who was healed. Upon hearing Jesus ask,
the woman is fearful, most likely for the reasons we’ve already discussed. It was forbidden for someone in her condition
to touch a Rabbi and she is an outcast who should not be out in public with
crowds. She is likely fearful that Jesus
is about to publicly “call her out.” The
amazing thing is Jesus does the exact opposite.
He wants her faith to be publicly celebrated. He wants her healing to be made public, not
so that He can brag about what He has done, but so she can be restored to
community as well as being healed. As it
becomes known that she is healed, the reasons for her being an outcast are
removed. Further, Jesus wants it known
that it is her own faith that has healed her; she is healed and restored to
community because she exercised her own faith in the absence of others
advocating for her.
One more important note.
Jesus knows that, because He stops to celebrate this woman’s faith, He
will be “too late” to heal Jairus’s daughter.
But He stops anyway. Jesus stops
to hold up the faith of a religious “outcast” on His way to heal the daughter
of a religious leader. He doesn’t play
favorites. He still doesn’t.
So, in the absence of someone to bring your need to Jesus,
bring that need to Him yourself. Believe
in the power of your own faith. He still
doesn’t play favorites. He’s still looking
to celebrate bold faith that refuses to be defined by rules of the established
order. No one else is “more important”
than you to Jesus. Know that in this
moment.
Question: What hesitations
do you have is asking God for what you need?
Prayer: Jesus, help
us to know how important each of us is to you.
Help us move toward faith in spite of those fears that seem to consume
us at times. Give us faith to advocate
for our needs when we need to. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray for
the families of 156 people who were killed during a Halloween festivity in
Seoul, South Korea.
Song: Run To The
Father - Cody Carnes
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