Luke 8:40-48

Luke 8:40-48 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

Go in peace, you are healed. How many of us want to hear those words? How many of us struggle with sicknesses or circumstances in our lives that are beyond our control? We long to hear from Jesus' lips, Go in peace, you are healed. It is interesting to note that Jesus didn't say, Go in peace, I have healed you. He didn't say your faith is greater than all the rest who are pushing and crowding to get near me. No, He just says, Daughter, your faith has healed you. How many more in that crowd believed He was the Messiah and that He could heal them? Surely, others came close enough to touch him. The Bible does not give us even a hint about these facts. This woman's faith alone is exalted in this passage. This is our focus in the story.

Christ knew strength had gone out of him. He knew a person touched him in such a way that healing power went out from him, maybe something like plugging an appliance into an electrical outlet. Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me. Well, the question remains for you, my Christian friend, are you plugged in or not? Do you have access to that healing power? Of course, the answer is yes. The Holy Spirit abides within you. If you are plugged in, which you are, then how do you handle the vicissitudes of life that are so common to all of us? What do you do with Stephen's death, James' beheading, the church's persecutions, Paul's martyrdom? What do you do with the Tsunami that sweeps through a countryside, taking many in its wake or the 9-11 catastrophe of two big buildings collapsing to the ground? What do you with your personal finiteness? What do you do with death and all that it means?

This was a Jewish daughter who touched Jesus, a much loved daughter of God, for He chose the Jewish people to be his people. But she was not a redeemed person, not a "saved" person. She was an observer that day of a man called Jesus. She must have believed He was a special messenger of God because she pushed forward to touch the hem of his garment. She also must have believed earnestly that Jesus could heal her. She was not able to have a face-to-face confrontation with Jesus. She was not going to hear his words of healing: Daughter, you are healed this day. She could get only close enough to touch his garment. Being weak she probably was then pushed back into the crowd, but she had her moment of faith. Jesus recognized that and said, Daughter, YOUR FAITH has healed you. Your strong belief in who I am has healed you.

Is that where you are today? Do you believe He can heal you or do you know that He has already healed you? Do you know that you have been plugged in ever since you believed? Do you know you are God's possession now, not your own? This scripture is for us who believe. We are not our own, we are his. Do we keep praying for healing and to be delivered from difficult situations? Yes, Jesus prayed. But the power of God is resident in us; we are filled with the Holy Spirit. He knows we are cherished children of God. However, He alone knows and controls our destiny. Yes, by living in the world we are in a tsunami, but our bodies are not stacked up like cordwood, for we are children of the Most High. We are like children standing by the tracks of the train of life. It goes sweeping by, but we are already home. It powerfully moves on down the track: our glasses might fall off, our hair might be messed up by its wind, but we are not moved, for we are already home with God. Someday, not very far off for any of us, we will experience in total reality the sun that always shines and the place where tears never flow.