6/30/10 He Touched Me

Mark 5:24 A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" 31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

Thoughts: This lady had no hope, except in touching Jesus.  If she could just touch- even his clothes- she believed, she would be healed.  The great thing about God becoming flesh in Jesus is that God shows He is reachable, touchable. This lady had put her hope in doctors who not only did not cure her, but made things more horrible for her and took all her money.  But God helped her because she put her faith in Him.  Many can sympathize with this woman today.  Many have spent all their efforts and time trying to get out of some problem (maybe an illness, maybe financial despair), but have no hope left.  The hope of this lady is our own hope- God's hand upon us- His loving touch upon our lives.  Many believe that they are too small for God to notice, or that they are one among so many- and maybe their problem is not as great as another's (was her hemorhaging worse that Jairus' daughter's death in this chapter?).  Jesus noticed her problem, as He notices ours. 

Prayer: Today, Lord, touch me- make me whole.  Help me to find my hope in you.

John Calvin abridged: It is obvious that this healing was not done by human power but by the Holy Spirit.  Yet it was an extraordinary impulse of the Spirit to touch Christ, and this ought not be seen as a general rule- lest we sink into superstition.  There is no command of God to touch the things of Christ.  The woman had a mixture of sin and error with her hope and faith.  For she hid from Christ at his first question, and trembled with fear before the One she believed could heal her.  Yet Christ graciously helped her anywaym even commending her faith.  God graciously and gently deals with us.  Christ knowingly and willingly healed this woman; He drew her to himself by the Spirit.  Yet he looked for her so she would make public testimony to his healing, and that this healing would not rest on his testimony alone. "Go in peace..." We do not truly enjoy God's benefits except for his promises.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1g9tH2osQQ (Click to hear "He Touched Me" by Bill Gaither- He wrote this in 1963 when he was an English teacher).