She Touched Him

Scripture: Matt 9:18-26 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

18 As Jesus was saying this, the leader of a synagogue came and knelt before him. “My daughter has just died,” he said, “but you can bring her back to life again if you just come and lay your hand on her.” 19 So Jesus and his disciples got up and went with him. 20 Just then a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding came up behind him. She touched the fringe of his robe, 21 for she thought, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” 22 Jesus turned around, and when he saw her he said, “Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed at that moment. (Matthew 9:18–22 NLT)

Jesus and his disciples were on their way to the home of the synagogue leader because his daughter had died. A woman who had suffered twelve years with constant bleeding came up behind him in the crowd. This woman, like the leper who called out to Jesus for healing, was considered unclean. If she touched anyone or if anyone touched her, her uncleanness would be transferred to them. She would be guilty, and they would have to perform a series of rituals so that they could be “clean” again.

The woman was desperate! She took a risk, not only of embarrassment and rejection, but of punishment, in order to find healing and relief from her condition. She thought, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Friends, there’s no chapter and verse or promise in the Bible that if she could just touch Jesus’ robe she would be healed! She thought that! And that desperate thought became an action of faith that drew healing from heaven and healed her of her condition. It might be easy to see her thought of touching Jesus’ robe as foolish, desperate superstition. Jesus saw it as an act of faith. She was healed before he spoke to her! She was healed by her desperate faith!

I wonder if I’m desperate enough! Is my awareness of my need for healing, change, transformation, freedom important enough to me? In my heart I want to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe and be healed, be changed! And yet, so many times I think of the cost, the risk, of what people will think. What about you? Do you ever get these kinds of thoughts? Let’s be desperate, friends! Let’s risk it all to touch Jesus!

Prayer:

Father, One more time, I press through the crowd, I reach out to touch Jesus. Heal me, cleanse me, change me! Make me all and nothing else but what you want me to be!