Key Verse: He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has
healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
Mark 5:34
God's glory was not to be denied. We cannot steal from God
and get away with it. We have here a crowd. We have lots of noise, lots of
activity. Who would notice one little bump; a little tug on the hem of the
tunic. Perhaps children were nearby. Perhaps they had tugged on his tunic for
some childish attention. Why not give it a try? What was there to lose? If it
didn't work, she would be the same as before. At least it wouldn't cost any
money as all the high priced physicians had. They had come with promises and
remedies that didn't work. The act seemed so simple. Touch the robe and slip
away. No one ever need know.
She didn't know Jesus. She didn't realize how much her
creator loved her. Even the smallest tug, the softest prayer is heard by Him.
She did not know how much she was loved by Him. She was only thinking of taking
what she could get, but He was seeking a relationship, a face to face
opportunity to encourage her and let her know that she mattered to Him.
Surely, in this day and time, it is understandable that this
woman was hoping to retain some sense of privacy and dignity. She didn't want
everyone to know that she had been bleeding, perhaps like menstruation, for
twelve years. If she was healed, no one
would notice and if she wasn't, no one would be there with that patronizing,
"Awe, too bad. Maybe some other time."
Perhaps, another reason for her secrecy was that, in truth,
she knew that she was breaking the Law. Her discharge made her unclean, just as
the leper was considered unclean. If everyone in the crowd had known her
situation, she would have not only been shunned, but pressed to the edge of the
crowd and encouraged to leave. She wanted to get to Jesus. She had to get to
Jesus and Jesus was in the center of the crowd.
Sadly, the crowd reminds me of the church’s attitude toward
outsiders. So often, we would push the unclean to the edge, away from our
worship, away from Jesus, because they make us uncomfortable. They interrupt
our worship, our agenda. When the unclean try to sneak just one touch of the
Master's robe, how often, we religious people in our practical mindedness,
respond like Peter. "Lord, there are people all around you." In
modern language we might hear him saying, "Lord, don't be ridiculous. Of
course somebody touched you! What did you expect? This is a crowd after
all!"
Even Peter, who walked with the Lord on a daily basis,
missed the individuality of God's love. Sometimes we do that, you know. We walk
with Jesus and we talk with Jesus and we forget that He doesn't want His love
to stop with us. We forget that He is always seeking more people who need Him.
We want to keep Him all to ourselves. He wants more of His creation to love Him
the way we are supposed to be doing, but we try to keep Him to ourselves.
So, Jesus forced the woman to acknowledge Him so that He
could look her in the eye and bless her and let her know of His love for her.
He was willing to do what it would take to begin a relationship with her. For
us, the cross demonstrates that He has that same willingness and determination
today. The cross isn't just about the world, but about us as individuals. He
looks each one of us in the eye to say, "I love you."
Hymn: "He Touched Me"
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