Mark 5:24-34 So Jesus went with him [Jairus]. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Jesus, the source of all power to create, was touched by this sick woman in the midst of a huge crowd of people. Knowing his power of creation had been touched by someone in the crowd, Jesus asks, "Who touched my clothes?" Someone had touched him by faith, believing Jesus had the power and authority to heal her. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4) We understand through the written Word that Christ created all things and in him was the fullness of the Godhead. We know when He came to Earth, He came to show us the Father; He came to show us the power of the Holy Spirit in human form. This woman who had suffered for twelve years with a bleeding condition that had taken all her money for failed treatments did not know anything except what she had heard about Jesus. Yet she came in faith believing if she could merely touch his clothes, she would be healed of this terrible infirmity. When her bleeding immediately stopped and she knew she was healed, Jesus also knew healing power had gone out from his being, and He stopped to ask, "Who touched my clothes?" With people pressing in upon him from every side and having another mission to go to Jairus' daughter, his disciples were amazed by his question. But Jesus continued to look to see who had touched his healing virtue. He did not have to look far, for the woman sought him out. Knowing she was healed, she came to Jesus, fell before him, and told him her story. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
What must the people have thought when they saw this miracle take place? This woman's friends knew of her infirmity, knew how long she had suffered. With an issue of blood, she would have been unclean, an outcast in society. Yet she dared to touch a man, dared to reach out in faith to one she believed had the power to set her free. Something deep inside her called out without knowing why to the maker of the universe who walked among men and women and revealed the love and mercy of Father God to a hurting and lost creation. This same Jesus, creator of all things, who would die on a cruel cross to save sinners was willing to take time for one woman in the midst of a large crowd in need of his care. In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. (Hebrews 1:1-2) Jesus spoke to the woman from the crowd on that day, and He told her to go forth in his peace, free from her suffering. When Jesus was born and the angels appeared to the shepherds abiding with their flocks, the angels were praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:14) All of the world was in chaos outside of Christ: there was no true and lasting peace. Paul told the church at Ephesus: He is our peace. (Ephesians 2:14) Through Christ's sacrifice at the cross, God offers every one of us the opportunity to enter into his rest, to receive the everlasting peace and joy of the Lord regardless of our human circumstances. As we are adopted into the family of God, we become his dearly loved children, joint-heirs with Christ. In this position of authority and power, we go forth as Christ's ambassadors, sharing the Good News of the gospel, telling others without hope of the peace that passes all understanding.
Today, some of you at the breakfast table may be struggling with issues that you think have robbed you of your peace. If that is so, then you needed this breakfast. If Christ is your peace, and He is; you cannot lose your peace. God is with you and He promised to remain with you always: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) When Jesus sent his disciples out into the world, He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) He does not call us to do his work and then abandon us. The writer of Hebrews compares Christians who fail to enter into Christ's peace and rest to the children of Israel who would not enter the Promised Land God had prepared for them. And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:18-19) They drew back in doubt, fear, and unbelief. They did not trust in the Lord. They did not believe in his promises. Finally, they missed out on God's best for them. God's Word is true, and He keeps his promises. When we stop reading the Word and stop listening to the still small voice of the Spirit, our hearts grow cold and our faith wavers. We start questioning God: Did God really say He would never leave me? Will He always go with me? When we stop walking by faith, we lose sight of the perfect will of God. We lose sight of his plans for our lives. Jesus has set us free to go in peace. He has given us power from on high to take up the cross and to follow him. May we walk in him, drawing from all that He is in us and all that we are in him. Praise his lovely name forever!
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