“And there was a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, for she kept saying, If I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health.” Mark 5:25, 28. (Amplified)
The first of the six stories we will be considering is of the individual more commonly known as the woman with the issue of blood. The story is recorded in Mark 5:22-34. Jesus Christ was responding to an urgent request by a man named Jairus to come and heal his mortally sick daughter; hence Jesus was totally unaware of this desperate woman who in reality should not be there, much less talk of seeking to touch Him. Her predicament was that she suffered from a dire medical condition, which also had religious and sociological significance. According to the Levitical laws that governed the Jews, and irrespective of whether she was suffering or not, whenever a woman is observing her menstrual period, she was supposed to live in isolation in order not to render anything or anyone with whom she comes in contact ceremonially unclean. Her defiance of this restrictive law meant that she put herself at risk of being stoned to death were she to be discovered and others can become unwittingly contaminated by her seemingly selfish act. Thankfully, Jesus totally understood her plight and applied His grace as opposed to the force of the law in dealing with her. This is in keeping with His principle that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for Sabbath.
Had this unnamed woman not done what she did, she would not have been healed, even though she was part of the covenant people of God and thus fully entitled to the children’s bread of healing that was available to all Jews. While she was a side show, in fact she was a no show as far as Jesus was concerned, through faith, she overcame all obstacles in her path and boldly forced her way into His reckoning. For a brief moment she forced her way to the top of Jesus’ agenda and held His attention long enough to receive healing and deliverance from the malady that had plagued her life.
So, why was she successful? It is because she was desperate enough to risk all to touch Jesus Christ. She broke the law and risked its wrath in order to get close enough to touch Him. She was also determined that no obstacle would stop her from reaching her goal of touching Jesus and receiving healing. For her it was a matter of life or death or do or die. She knew that if she didn’t do, she would die. Her life would to all intent and purpose be over. So, she really had nothing to lose. Also, Jesus Christ was her last and only hope, since she had already exhausted every other means known to her and had spent her last fortune in search of a cure and failed. Hence, she was totally dependent on God, as she had everything riding on His favourable response.
What can we learn from her life? We know that faith has a voice that speaks so loud that it never fails to attract God’s attention, whatever the distraction. The reality is that we all have a measure of faith. Our difficulty in attracting God’s attention lies in the fact that our faith only speaks with a squeak when only a booming voice would do. So, take time to develop a booming faith and you certainly will catch God’s ear.
Prayer:
Lord, let my touch of faith draw virtue from you today. Let my voice of faith speak so loudly that it will attract your anointing into my life. Help me to be focus on receiving from you so that I will not become a part of the multitude who touched you but were not changed by the experience. Make me smile again like this woman. Amen.