For God so loved the world…that he stopped! In the Gospel of Mark, there is a story of a woman who had a blood issue (Mark 5:24-34). This “discharge of blood” had been a problem for her for 12 years or so. Most likely it was a hemorrhage which meant she would have also been considered “ceremonially unclean” (Leviticus 15:25-27) and therefore, would not have been permitted to participate in worship in the temple. And though she had exhausted all her resources, a cure could not be found. Bottom line, she felt hopeless!
She had heard of Jesus however. She had heard that he was healing people. So she began to think that if she could just get to Him, wholeness would come to her again. If she could, at the very least, just touch the bottom of his garment. If she could just grab a thread, then this 12-year malady would disappear.
So she goes after Jesus to get a touch. She probably thought no one would notice. And that’s most likely how she would have preferred it. The crowd was compacted around Jesus. Everyone was bumping into each other. No one would know. You can almost visualize her getting close behind Jesus and squeezing her arm through the crowd to brush her hand against Jesus’ cloak. That’s all she needed after all. Just a light touch.
Chances are, a small touch is all she got. But once again, that’s all she needed to be healed. One touch produced a miracle! She may have wanted to scream, but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself so she refrained. She may have even begun to weep. We don’t know what she did, but we do know what Jesus did. Her touch, though ever so small, made him stop. He realized something had happened and so he stopped, turned around, and began to ask who had touched him. Kind of a crazy question to ask in a crowd of people pressing around you. But this touch was different. It was a touch of faith. And Jesus knew it.
When Jesus turned around, this woman, now free from disease, came forward. She knew she was the cause of the abrupt halt. So, she fell in front of Jesus. And she did so in “fear and trembling.” After all, she was a woman and women were considered second class citizens in that culture. In addition, she knew that it was forbidden for someone like her, being deemed “ceremonially unclean” because of her disease, to touch a rabbi. Yet she confessed.
Now Jesus does what only Jesus can do at this point. Though the text does not say so, I think he takes her by the hand, helps her up and looks her in the eyes before he speaks most compassionately, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” “Daughter!” He called her daughter. She’s not only physically healed, she’s now in the family.
Here’s the story of a desperate woman who sees her only hope of any healing coming from Jesus. As a result, she breaks a few social and religious customs and touches him. After all, she is desperate. And desperate people will do almost anything. They aren’t worried about rules or customs. They are at the bottom and have nothing to lose. When you are flat on your back and are without hope, there is nothing too extreme that you will not do to find relief.
This woman was as needy as you can get. And Jesus was her only hope. She knew he healed others so why not her? And Jesus came through in Jesus-like fashion. He healed! He restored! He stopped!
He stopped! With the crowd all around him while walking to a synagogue ruler’s house to heal a little girl, Jesus stopped. Jesus, who no doubt had many demands upon him and questions asked of him, stopped. Jesus, God in the flesh, the one in whom all things were created, stopped.
This is our God! This is our creator. He is personal. He is present. And he overlooks no one. We may feel we are just another cog in the wheel or just another face in the crowd, but Jesus stopped. He meets us where we are and in whatever condition we find ourselves. As he comes to us and as we reach out to him, he does not parade by for Jesus has come to “seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
For God so loved the world…that he stopped!
Photo by Fernando Venzano on Unsplash
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