Just thinking

20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."

22 Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.

As I was reading through chapter 9 I came across this passage. I didn't remember this from Matthew. Mark 5 describes the scene in greater detail and is the passage I remember best. Here it is ...

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 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. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

I've always been intrigued by this account. Especially by Jesus' response but also by the woman's situation. She'd been sick for 12 years. She'd been in pain for over a decade. Hmmmm. She'd been to doctor after doctor seeking a cure. She'd been disappointed time after time. A roller coaster of hope and disappointment. "Will this one know what is wrong with me?" "Will this one have a cure?" "Maybe if I do this the pain will go?" "Maybe this doctor will know what I should do!"

I bet she was just about willing to do anything to change her physical condition but the 'thing' to do alluded her. Exhausted by her illness, depressed from the inability to figure out, if not control, her body, she happens upon Jesus walking down the road.

I wonder if she heard the local official ask Jesus to come and raise his daughter from the dead. She probably felt dead. Her life blood had been slowly draining for far too long. Gathering what little hope she had she reached out to Him and touched his cloak. It might have just been the strings dangling down from his Jewish attire. Just a feint touch, but I wonder if she hoped with all her might that this man would have the cure.

Can you imagine being there? It says she was frightened when Jesus turned around. All of a sudden she was discovered, uncovered, revealed. I wonder if before this time she had remained hidden. Hiding in her house. Hidden from outside activities. Hidden from friends. This "revelation" scared her. I wonder if she thought He was going to be angry. If she would be berated for touching a man, or even just for being in public.

Imagine her relief when she looked into his eyes and saw compassion instead of frustration; a huge measure of unhurried patience.

Imagine her amazement as she realized her illness was healed! Suddenly, spontaneously, abruptly healed!!! I wonder if she cried ....tears of joy... of relief ... of unbelief. Actually that is what she didn't have. Unbelief. She believed. Her faith made her well.

Some days I wish Jesus was still walking down the street.