On The Way to a Healing

Luke 8:40-56

It was just another day where she stood on the outskirts of the crowd not too close to anyone, but wondering what was going on.  She heard people shouting His name.  Was this the Teacher, the Healer she had heard proclaimed, the one who caused blinded eyes to open, the lame to walk and even cast out demons?  She had heard the stories from far off of people receiving their loved ones back from death and even lepers being cleansed.  What was His name?  Jesus, yes that was what they were shouting as they pressed in all around Him.  If only she could receive a healing from this anointed one.  But she was unclean.  It had been twelve years since anyone touched her, hugged her, got close enough to look into her eyes.  The bleeding would not stop.  It separated her from everyone she knew, and the discouragement and loneliness were overwhelming. 

From the end of February through most of March my body was attacked by a virus that caused me to go from a nasty cough to feeling so weak and full of body aches that I could only stay up for short amounts of time.  For at least six weeks I experienced headaches and sneezing and sore throat and ears that kept me away from church and other activities because I didn’t want to pass this on to anyone else.  I made my kids stay away because I didn’t want them to get it.  Just as I began to feel better, another round would hit me. It was pretty miserable.  I can’t imagine having an illness that kept me away from people for twelve years.   

The illness this woman had was, most likely, specific to women, and men are not fully able to understand, although they might be compassionate and sympathetic.  The constant bleeding, the cramping, the anemia and weakness that would follow, always washing clothes and herself to keep from being too offensive to anyone.  The cycle of life that God put in women to prepare them to bear children had gone terribly wrong and could not be fixed by any doctors of that day.  And then the separation from her family and others because of the laws that governed such things in those days took its toll. I hope I have not been too graphic, but the suffering of this woman was great and took over her entire life.  So when she knew Jesus was in that crowd she began to have hope that maybe He was the answer to her twelve year dilemma.  If only...if only she could get His attention.  But that would be wrong because she was unclean.  She heard conversations at the edge of the crowd that He was headed to the house of Jairus to heal his 12 year old daughter who was dying. Jairus was an important person in the synagogue.  How could she interrupt the Teacher’s journey to help this daughter? Funny, she thought, that this child was born when her sickness started.  This twelve year old child was a physical human representation of the time she had suffered with her own affliction.   

And suddenly a decision was made. For better or worse she had to get to Jesus.  If only she could touch the hem of His garment perhaps she would be healed.  She dropped to her knees and began to press through the crowd of people surrounding Him.  Stones in the road cut at her knees and people unknowingly stepped on her hands and legs.  After all, who was expecting a person to be crawling on the ground amongst them?   

And then there He was.  The fringe of His garment was before her and she reached out and ever so gently touched it.  All of a sudden her attention was off herself as Jesus turned around and said, “Who touched me?”  Fear gripped her as her desperate attempt to touch Jesus had been found out.  One of His disciples, the one called Peter, was incredulous at the question, “Who touched me?” “Master,” he said, “there is a crowd of people around you! How can you ask such a question?” But Jesus responded, “I felt power go out of me.”  

The crowd opened up and there she was on her knees, trembling, expecting a rebuke about being unclean and approaching Jesus, interrupting Him as He went to a more important place.  But instead as she explained to Him and all the people the reason for touching His garment, she saw compassion in His eyes not anger. “Daughter, be of good comfort, your faith has made you whole.  Go in peace.”  The most precious words she had ever heard.  She could feel that her body had been healed and her heart rejoiced.   

But as she rejoiced another came with bad news that the little girl had died and Jesus needn’t bother to continue to the house of Jairus.  Was it her fault?  Had she taken up His time and caused the child to die?  No.  Her divine appointment with Jesus did not hinder Him from healing the daughter of Jairus too. 

The good news is that God’s power is not limited by time or circumstances.  God can work out the healing of your desperate situations even as He works out similar situations for others.  He has the power over sickness and death and, no matter how He chooses to make you whole, in faith, you can go in peace. Be of good comfort. 

Jo