While He was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before Him and said, ‘My daughter has just died. But come and put Your hand on her, and she will live.’ Jesus got up and went with him, and so did His disciples.
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch His cloak, I will be healed.’
Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ He said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.
When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and the people playing pipes, He said, ‘Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.’ But they laughed at Him. After the crowd had been put outside, He went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region.' (Matthew 9.18-24, NIV)
For those of us who know the Bible this story seems so simple but yet I feel that it touches all of our lives. I want you to understand why these stories were written. Firstly, these were actual incidents that happen in the life of Jesus, they were not parables or illustrations: they were things that actually happened. What occurred here was totally unexpected because Jesus was on his way to do something else – the ruler of the synagogue in that town had come to Jesus to ask him to heal his daughter. Yet somehow in the middle of the journey, this desperate woman intrudes into the scene. You can understand her position, lonely, desperate for a miracle. It is not so different today, people tired of the formality of religion, of the moral uncertainty created by the state, of the inexorable slide into moral chaos, of their own hopelessness, need Jesus.
Wherever Jesus went, the ordinary people crowded around him. They were all pressing up against Him, so He had no peace. But while He was trying to go to heal Jairus’ daughter, one woman forcefully pushed her way through the crowd and touched Jesus.
Jesus knew that somebody had touched Him and immediately asked who touched me? One disciple questioned, how can you ask who touched you, hundreds of people are surrounding you. But Jesus recognised there was something unusual with this woman, her touch was different.
So many people, but only one attracted the personal attention of Jesus. The problem she had was quite common, extra menstrual bleeding which the doctors could not stop even after twelve years. She had a severe problem, it was a difficult time for her, and she had spent everything she had to pay the doctors, yet they could not stop the bleeding. She had nothing left and still she was not healed, in fact the Bible says the doctors made the condition worse. But she was determined to get healed! So when she found that Jesus was in town she went to Him to be healed – to me that is ordinary – maybe to you its not.
We know the woman was healed but there was something significant which made her different to all the others in the crowd and even stopped Jesus in His other mission. What she did made Jesus stand still and give her what she desired.
She was so determined to get to Jesus, nothing was going to stop her – no man, no crowd, she knew she had to get to Jesus. She was determined to do it and she did it. She was going to touch him in a way Jesus would not know. She was not going to touch His arm, or ask Him to put His hand on her – she was not going to attract His attention. She was going to come secretly and quickly. But she knew one thing: if she touched the bottom of His coat she would be healed.
In the crowd there was only one woman who got what she came for. Touch Jesus today. Be the one person in the crowd who actually gets through. Or will you be at the back of the crowd and go away disappointed. The choice is yours. Of all the hundreds of people around Jesus, many touched Him but only one touched Him in faith. Where are you in that crowd today? In the back, careless, indifferent, or are you determined to reach him. Jesus wants you to touch him. He has something new he wants to put in your life.