By Evonne Wimbush
Fresh Harvest Christian Church (D.O.C.)
Have you ever been so thirsty you would have paid twenty dollars for a drink of water? Have you ever wanted anything so badly that you were willing to do just about anything to make it happen? I can imagine at this moment some of you are thinking about your first love and how all you wanted to do was spend a bit of time with him or her; you didn’t care what anyone said, not anyone! With that thought in mind, go with me to the Gospel according to Mark where we will visit a city where a woman that wanted healing so badly, she didn’t care what the people said. She had no concern for the law by which made her an outcast and considered unclean. She had a need, and her faith was directing her to the cure.
In the Gospels (Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, Luke 8:43-48), the woman with the issue blood had endured constant bleeding for twelve (12) years. If you can, imagine the agony she must have felt both physically and mentally. She had spent all of her money on treatments from many physicians (Mark 5:26), and, yet she was not cured. In fact, her condition had grown worse. However, on the day that Jesus was on his way to heal the daughter of a synagogue leader (Mark 5:21-24), this woman made the decision to disregard the Jewish law and the crowd of other folks trying to get to Jesus, and act on faith. She believed that if she could just “touch” the hem of Jesus’s garment (Matthew 9:21), she would be healed. Two things to note in this statement; she didn’t believe He had to physically touch her but that all she had to do was touch the garment that he was wearing. Secondly, her faith in what Jesus could do moved her beyond what others might think or the fact she was in a crowd who believed that if she touched them, they, too, would be considered unclean. At the moment she touched Jesus’s garment, she was healed. What doctors and money could not do for her, Jesus did instantaneously.
Jesus immediately responds and asks who had touched him (Mark 5:30; Luke 8:44-45). What a powerful moment! Jesus felt his healing power transferring to this lady. Out of all the people that were pressing and pushing against Him, this touch was different, and He took the time to stop and acknowledge it. The disciples responded to Jesus for him to take notice of the crowd. How out of all these people could Jesus feel the touch of only one (Mark 5:31)? I believe that He could have kept going and the lady would have gone her on her merry way. Yet, Jesus found it necessary to draw attention to this miracle. With humility and gratefulness, the woman confessed to Jesus the nature of her situation. She had a testimony and there amid those that called her unclean, those that could not cure her of her issue, those that had received all of her money, she stood as a witness to faith and the healing power of Jesus.
Important take-aways from this story are the faith (Mark 5:28) of the woman, the grace and mercy of Jesus (Mark 5:34), the persistence and perseverance of the woman (Mark 5:27), and the power of testimony (“……she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately”, Luke 8:47 NKJV). How awesome is this man that can heal you without laying a hand on you? How awesome is it that it was faith that healed the woman with the issue of blood? And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” (Luke 8: 48 NKJV).
May God’s grace and peace keep you today and always. May you find healing through faith and the mighty power of Jesus.
