[Day 165]
Luke 8.45-48
“Who touched Me?” Jesus asked… “Somebody did touch Me,” said Jesus. “I know that power has gone out from Me.” When the woman saw that she was discovered, she came trembling and fell down before Him. In the presence of all the people, she declared the reason she had touched Him and how she was instantly cured. “Daughter,” He said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
A poor lady has had menstrual bleeding for 12 years. She has been to the doctors, but they have just made matters worse. Silently, and with a combination of determination and embarrassment, she makes her way through the crowds and steadily approaches Him from behind. Stretching out her hand, she manages to touch the tassel of His robe. And instantly the bleeding stops. After twelve years! Can you imagine the delight, the elation, the joy?
And then her heart must have almost stopped. “Who touched Me?” Jesus asks. His disciples start pointing to the crowds and try to reason with Him. “Look, Jesus. There are hundreds of people around here!” But as she looks at Jesus, she knows that He knows. So she steps forward, her heart pounding. “It was me.”
You might wonder after all she had been through, why Jesus needed to publicly humiliate her in front of hundreds of people. Why couldn’t He just have winked at her and said, “I know. It’s ok now”? Why the need to explain in front of everyone?
Well, I wonder what the reaction of the crowd would have been? Maybe they would have seen and heard that through a single touch Jesus had made what was unclean clean. Maybe they would have been thinking about the dying 12 year old girl who Jesus was on His way to visit. Maybe they would have equated the 12 years of the girl’s life with the 12 years that the woman had been bleeding for. And then of course there were 12 tribes of Israel, and maybe they would have taken hope that the man who healed the woman could also not just save a young girl, but could wash away the uncleaness from the whole of Israel and bring salvation to all the 12 tribes.
By speaking out what God has done in our lives, however embarrassing it might be, we acknowledge that He is Lord of all and that our faith in Him can even bring about healing and peace.
What is God saying?
I believe that God is saying:
Do you believe that Jesus can heal today? Do you have faith that He can? For yourself? For your family and friends?
