Who Touched Me?

Mark 5:30 “And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”

When Jesus walked this earth as a man, He had throngs of people following Him, sometimes in the thousands.

Feeding the hungry, healing the sick, casting out demons from those possessed, teaching, rebuking, leading in the way…these are a few of the acts that Jesus was doing every day.

I can’t imagine how chaotic a scene that must have been, people pressing, needing help, and and inquiring within. It must have been all so fatiguing, not only for Jesus but for the disciples who followed Him.

“Jesus, I’m still hungry, do you have anymore food?”; “Jesus, my brother is sick, can you come with me to pray for him?” The requests and questions being posed must have seemed endless, and yet in the midst of all this, He noticed a something different.

Mark sets the stage for the event that is worth looking at closer:

Mark 5:25-28 “Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”

Today, a medical condition like the one this woman suffered from would have been treated by specialists, using equipment and resources that have been developed through years of research. In Jesus’ day, I can only imagine the practice by which physicians used to treat a bleeding condition, it’s no wonder they only made things worse.

Twelve years of bleeding would leave any woman broken, weak, and without hope.

Among the crowd…

Jesus noticed power had gone from Him. The Creator of all, who allowed Himself to be limited by flesh was not diminished in power and yet His divine position took on human frailty. The question “who touched me?” revealed a limitation of knowledge, a position we as people know all too well. The world searches for knowledge in universities and books, yet this woman knew quite well were to turn when all seemed hopeless.

What was it about this woman that made her different than all the others pressing in?

When she touched the robe of the healer, the hopelessness turned into joy, the broken was made whole, the helpless gained strength, and all of the rumors were found to be true….

The Messiah had truly come.

True Faith

Psalm 26:1 “A Psalm of David. Vindicate me, O LORD, For I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the LORD; I shall not slip.”

Where do you go in the midst of trouble?

It is so easy to trust in everything but the One who holds this world in His hands.

We are held back by our knowledge. We often think that because we have so much knowledge, we must contain the answers. When the answers are insufficient or the promises don’t hold true, anxiety creeps in unannounced and begins to take hold. Before you know it, the repercussions of turning our eyes inward, toward our own reasoning, causes a rift in our relationship with the Lord and we are slowly lead astray by our own pride.

This woman’s faith drew power from God unexpectedly! There is a concept that was once foreign to me. Unbelievers will ask the question of “how does faith change your circumstances?” and this is often answered by an interaction with the King of kings.

God’s power is supplied to those who walk in faith with Him.

Must we be reminded that now the Messiah is risen? He is no longer subjected to human frailty and His mission to establish the Kingdom of God is complete; He knows all, sees all, and will accomplish all that He desires.

This woman stood out because her faith stood out. So many who follow Jesus do not follow in faith, they follow in want.

They want blessing * They want good health * They want happiness * They want comfort * They want to be supplied

There is a fine line between desiring more and desiring God who supplies more. The difference in trusting God’s supply is in knowing that we often don’t need what we desire or what we think we need.

After twelve years of suffering, this woman had come to the end of herself. Her attempts at living a normal, healthy life had vanished and now she searched beyond the knowledge of her capacity into the unknown.

The questions has been posed by many well respected leaders, was Jesus the Messiah? Was Jesus all that He claimed to be…God Himself? Was Jesus just a rabbi, a teacher, a prophet, demon possessed, or simply a fool? If the teachers were left with questions, certainly the people questioned as well.

The Hem of the Savior

She thought to herself, “If only I can touch the hem of His garment I will be made well.” This wasn’t common knowledge, this was faith exhibited in tremendous form. There was no anointing of oil, no ritual cleansing, no special ceremony, only dust, noise, and a crowd that she had to press through.

How much do you want Jesus?

How much do you want to be transformed by His power?

Sometimes it takes God bringing us to the end of ourselves to finally look up, to consider a hope that seems unreasonable but remaining fervent nonetheless. To reach out and just touch the hem of His robe, knowing that at that moment, we will certainly be changed is pure and undefiled faith.

Mark 5:34 “And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

Jesus makes people well.

The woman’s body was healed but more importantly, her soul was healed.

Peace is the mark of the Master. Anxiety and fear are of the world but what the Lord does is relieves the fear and replaces it with His signature….His image.

This was a common practice of Jesus, taking a situation that seemed obvious and reflecting into the divine. Jesus knew what was important, He also knows our limitations today and how these bodies are but dust.

That woman eventually grew older and died of another ailment that was not healed by God. This future will be the same for us. It wasn’t her body that God was overly concerned for, it was what healing her body did for her soul.

We are not all the same. Thank God we are different in how we interact with this world, how we see it, and experience it. Some people need a special touch by Jesus to see that it is really Him, that He is indeed True, and that all the rumors are actually real. Others are content with the knowledge of His Holiness and the fellowship of His Spirit.

He knows what we need, He might just be waiting for us to reach out to Him.

If your tired of reaching elsewhere, go to Jesus with nothing less than complete faith in Him—otherwise you’ll just be like all the others, pressing in, wanting something from Him but missing all that He really wants to do in you.