The Woman Who Touched Jesus
by
The Rev. Steven S. Bryant
*In the Litany of the Miraculous *
Mark’s Gospel reads like a litany of miraculous healings. In chapter one
alone, Jesus casts out demons, He relieves Simon’s mother-in-law of a
terrible fever, multitudes with various maladies and possessions are given a
new start, and even a poor leper is restored. And that first chapter in Mark
ends with these words. _”…and they were coming to Him from everywhere.”_
Mark 1:45 Why? Because the proof of His transformative miraculous power
walked among them. There in the crowd is a man born blind, but by the power
of Jesus, he sees. There’s a woman who was once awfully disfigured by
leprosy, confined to a colony of lonely sufferers hiding in their ugliness,
but now, she looks as radiant as a beauty queen. Sitting there peacefully is
a man who was tormented by the darkest form evil, but since Jesus came
along, he’s about as calm as a librarian. See that man listening to a child?
He was once as deaf as a post. Mark says that people came from “everywhere”
because the world of 2000 years ago was in great need of the power of Jesus.
So it is with today’s world. We need what only He can provide -
transformative, healing power.
Chapter five opens right on the heels of one of the greatest displays of
supernatural power the world had ever seen. Jesus simply spoke three little
words, and a raging storm vanished. As the disciples row upon a glassy sea,
they wonder, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
They hardly catch their breath when down from the tombs runs crazed lunatic
known and feared as the “Gerasene Demoniac.” Who could forget his
transformation? From a naked mad man to a gentleman, _”clothed and in his
right mind,”_ soon to be the world’s first Christian missionary! Mark 5:15
and 20
Mark continues this glorious litany of the miraculous by introducing us to a
Daddy whose 12 year old daughter was near death:
_”And when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a
great multitude gathered about Him; and He stayed by the seashore. And
one of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and upon seeing
Him, fell at His feet, and entreated Him earnestly, saying, “My little
daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay your hands on
her, that she may get well and live.” And He went off with him; and a
great multitude was following Him and pressing in on Him.” _
*An Interruption? *
Jesus is on His way to Jairus’ home, when out of the crowd there comes an
interruption. _”And a woman…”_ That’s how Mark introduces the subject of
Lesson Five, *The Woman Who Touched Jesus*. In the eyes of the world, and
even in the eyes of certain disciples, she was an interruption. Jesus is on
His way to save the life of a precious little girl. What
could be more important than that? How dare anyone, for any reason, delay
that work. It would be akin to blocking an ambulance! A terrible intrusion!
That’s how they felt about her. Before we get much further, let’s take a
personal inventory.
· How many interruptions have you experienced already this day?
· How many unwelcome telephone calls have you received from people trying
· to sell you things you could care less about?
· How many popups have you deleted from your computer screen?
· How many spam emails have you received?
· How many times have you said to your child, “Mommy’s talking. Don’t
· interrupt!”?
· How many commercials have interrupted you dissemination of today’s news?
Certainly, some of the above qualify as interruptions, rude intrusions upon
our important lives. Look again. Not all them qualify. Take the last one for
example: Children have to learn good manners. “Don’t interrupt,” we teach
them. Unwelcome soliticiations, popup ads, spam emails, commercials – all of
these qualify. But remember, other human beings are not interruptions.
*That’s the first great life lesson she teaches us: Jesus doesn’t see other
human beings as interruptions. Neither should we*. He sees all of us as
people worth dying for. Can you think of any occasion in the Gospel record
in which Jesus totally ignores someone, or scolds them for rudely
interrupting? I can’t. His time was certainly more precious than mine, and
yet, over and over again, I’ve chosen to interpret a family member, a
churchgoer, a friend, even a family member as a “scheduling complication.”
Lord, help us to see others through your eyes – as people who are worth our
time, worth our effort, worth our concern, worth dying for.
*In Need of The Great Physician*
Mark obviously didn’t see her as an interruption. As the shortest of the
Gospels, Mark typically doesn’t offer much in the way of description. He’s
brief and to the point. But here, Mark takes great pains to describe this
great woman’s story. Listen to what he says:
_”And a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured
much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and
was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse, after hearing about
Jesus, came up in the crowd behind Him, and touched His cloak. For she
thought, ‘If I just touch His garments, I shall get well.'”_ Mark
5:25-28
No one could ever accuse this woman of settling in to the victim mentality.
Unlike some other folks in the Gospel story, she never grew accustomed to
her long term illness. Jesus didn’t have to ask her, “Woman do you wish to
be made well?” She did everything she could do to find healing, to the point
of totally draining her financial resources. She tried all the doctors, but
none could help. What she really needed was a “Great Physician.” Earlier in
Mark’s gospel Jesus said, _”it is not those who are healthy who need a
physician, but those who are sick;…”_Mark 2:17 Jesus is our Great
Physician! And what can our Great Physician do for us?
Try to imagine the last time you sat in an examination room nervously
waiting on the doctor to arrive. Can you remember how you felt when he or
she walked in?
Hopefully, all of you have a really great doctor. I do. My internist never
fails to work me into his busy schedule. He takes the time to listen. He
asks lots of questions designed at discerning the nature of the medical
problem. He truly cares about my good health because he has a vested
interest in it. I am the father of three of his grandchildren!
A great doctor brings a sense of relief and calm because we know that our
physician has the knowledge and training to help us arrive at excellent
health. A really great doctor is one who has made a solemn vow to offer you
their very best. Have you ever read the Hippocratic Oath? The ancient Greek
doctors would pledge themselves toward the keeping of the oath in their
practice of medicine. Here’s a good translation of the
original Greek:
“The regimen I adopt shall be for the benefit of the patients to the
best of my power and judgement, not for their injury or for any wrongful
purpose. I will not give a deadly drug to anyone, though it be asked of
me, nor will I lead the way in such counsel. And likewise I will not
give a woman a means to procure abortion. But I will keep my life and
art in purity and holiness. Whatsoever house I enter, I will enter for
the benefit of the sick, refraining from all voluntary wrong-doing and
corruption, especially seduction of male or female, bond or free.
Whatsoever I see or hear concerning the life of men in my attendance on
the sick, or even apart from my attendance, which ought not be babbled
abroad, I will keep silence on them, counting such things to be
religious secrets.”
What a powerful commitment! How much more committed to our well being is THE
“Great Physician?” How much more good can He do for us? You can tell Him
about all your aches and pains and he’ll listen so attentively. You can
always trust that He has your best interest in mind. You can stake your life
confidently in His power to bring healing not only to your body but to your
soul. He is committed to you even to the point of death, even death upon a
Cross. And you can find great comfort in the knowledge that He has a vested
interest in you because you belong to Him!
*Terribly Alone *
So, what do we know about this unnamed woman? She is terribly sick and
getting sicker. She had gone to every doctor in town, to no avail. She is
bankrupt. Without a doubt, she is alone. This last fact was probably the
hardest thing of all to endure. You can endure a financial crisis with
friends to lean on. You can even weather a storm of sickness, empowered by
the warm fellowship of loved ones. But can you imagine going through
sickness and poverty in total isolation? This was her experience for 12 long
years.
Her “aloneness” is more than a safe assumption. According to the religious
laws of her day, a sickness like hers would render her unclean,
unapproachable, and untouchable. For twelve terribly long years, she endured
it all alone. Can you see her in your mind’s eye? On
the edge of the crowd, knowing that at the center of the congested mass of
people walked a Man who was more than a man, One in whom dwelled a power
that must have come from heaven above. Can you see her, in a moment of
reckless abandon, throwing aside the shackles of her culture, pushing
forward through the crowd, believing with all her heart that
just a touch of His garment will bring an end to her years of suffering.
Surely she also knew that a touch of His garment would bring her, as well, a
brand new life!
For twelve years she knew that being in relationship with another person was
not an option for someone deemed unclean. I believe the hope of having
friends, holding hands, kissing a child, being viewed by others as one who
is touchable and loveable – this is the deep desire that compels her to
reach out to Jesus. Sometimes in our lives, the miracle we need is
relational. We are all in touch with marriages on the rocks, friendships
strained, and loved ones estranged. *Here’s another great life lesson she
teaches us. Just like that woman, you and I will never have meaningful,
satisfying relationships with friends and family members, unless we are
willing to reach out toward Jesus and make Him an integral part of those
relationships*. Without Him, we too might as well be untouchable and alone.
With Him, all our loves flourish. Parents and children love one another so
much more. Husbands and wives love each other more truly. Friends cherish
one another more dearly.
Is there a relationship in your life that needs healing? Reach out. Bring
Jesus into it. He will work His miracles even in your relationships! Do you
believe it? Do you have the faith of this wonderful unnamed woman? Faith
that can reach out to Jesus claiming His healing power over even your most
troubled relationship? For goodness sake, please don’t let even a smidgeon
of skepticism prevent you from seeking the healing power of the Great
Physician. Reach out to Him!
Tony Campolo tells of his own former skepticism regarding the miraculous. He
said that once he found himself in an ecumenical gathering of pastors. A
Pentecostal evangelist was there telling the group about his congregation’s
latest revival. Campolo said, “I’m not so
sure about all that. Yes, Jesus healed lots of people, but today? With all
the sickness and problems of the world today?” The Pentecostal chided him
for his lack of faith and Campolo left that meeting feeling uneasy. Soon
afterwards, he was standing before an auditorium of people, thousands of
them who had turned out Tony Campolo’s thoughts about life and faith. He
said it was nothing planned, but at the end of the service, he said to the
crowd, “I know that some of you believe in miracles and some of you don’t,
and to be quite honest with you, I’m not so sure about all that. But I’ve
been thinking and praying a lot about miracles lately, so I’ll tell you
what, we’re going to pray, and I want you to come down front. That’s right,
if you need a miracle, come down front and I’m going to pray for each of you
to receive a miracle from God. I’m not making any promises, in fact, I don’t
know if anything at all will happen. Who knows? You come down and we’ll
pray.” He sheepishly shrugged his shoulders and waited.
By the droves they came forward. He said he was not only astounded by the
number, but by the fact that nearly every request involved a significant
human relationship, even those that involved a medical issue.
_”Dr. Campolo, my daughter ran away and we’ve looked everywhere. We need a
miracle. We need God to bring her back home.” _
_”Tony, please pray for my baby. The doctor said she has a congenital heart
defect. I’m so scared. My baby needs a miracle.” _
_”Reverend, I’ve been a drunk for past 23 years and tonight I know it’s time
to change. I can’t do it on my own. I need a miracle.” _
_”Pastor, my husband and I haven’t talked in years. Our marriage is dead but
I don’t want a divorce. I want Jesus to do a miracle in our marriage.” _
Tony Campolo stayed there as long as it took to pray for each person. And
then he made his way to the airport.
Several weeks passed and the telephone rang. “Hello,” answered Tony Campolo.
On the other end of the line he could hear the quivering voice of a woman.
“Reverend Campolo, you may or may not remember me, there were so many
people, but you prayed for me and my husband.” “Oh yes,” he said with really
remembering her at all. “Well I’m the woman who told you that my husband was
at home with hospice, terminal cancer. And I was
just calling to you that he died yesterday.” Campolo was speechless on the
other end of the line. Before he could think of a pastoral response, she
continued, “and I just wanted to call and say thank you. Thank you from the
bottom of my hear for praying for Henry, because you will never know what an
awful monster that cancer made of him in his last few
months. He said things he didn’t mean to his children and his friends. It
was so bad that he alienated just about everybody in his life. But I knew
that wasn’t my Henry. And you prayed for a miracle, and by johnny we got it!
I came home that night after the service and Henry was still sick as he
could be, but the old loveable Henry came back. I just praise
God! We got our miracle. Thank you for praying for us.” Never again would
Tony Campolo question the power of God to heal, yes even today!
Let us never question the power of Jesus Christ to heal not only the body,
but the sin sick soul, and even our troubled relationships.
“And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from
Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My
garments? And His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude pressing in
on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ And He looked around to see the woman
who had done this. But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had
happened to her, came and fell down before Him, and told Him the whole
truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in
peace, and be healed of your affliction.” Mark 5:29-34
Life would never be the same, and life doesn’t have to stay the same for us.
Reach out! Receive! Tremble in awe of His great power and love! Rejoice in
the newness He brings to all of life, even your relationships!
*Back to the Real World *
Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates.” Yes, sometimes. A
more accurate analogy might be this statement, “Life is like a roller
coaster.” One minute we feel like we’re on top of the world. The next minute
we feel about as low as a snake’s belly. Little platitudes like that don’t
even begin to do justice to the depth of grief that must have
filled the hearts of Jairus and his wife. _”Your daughter has died…”_ Mark
5:34
I can think of no more shrill, heart-wrenching episode in the Gospel. Jairus
did the very best he could do; he had come to Jesus seeking help. But they
were delayed by someone else’s need. And now there is shock and the deepest
form of human pain, a grief so heavy that no one can face it stoically. All
we can do is crumble to the ground with a Daddy and a Mommy who have lost
the most cherished of all relationships, their beautiful little girl.
If you and I were standing there next to Jairus and his wife, how long would
it take for us to forget that we are in the presence of the Great Physician?
There beside Him is a woman who has just been healed of a twelve year
illness. Have we forgotten so soon? I have to confess my faith has a good
memory, but it is short.
Fortunately, the one who bore the terrible news to Jairus, didn’t have the
last word. Who does? Who has the last word in the drama? Jesus does. He
confidently makes His way into the little girl’s room. He takes her hand in
His. The little tips of her fingers are turning blue and they feel cold in
Jesus’ big hands. Then the Great Physician speaks two simple Aramaic words,
*”Talitha kum.”* Mark 5:41 What do those ancient words mean? I say them to
my little girl most mornings, “Get up, Sweetie!” Words so familiar. Words so
warm. Words so tender. But words with such power!
_”And immediately the girl arose and began to walk; for she was twelve years
old. And immediately they were completely astounded.”_ Mark 5:42
The crises of life do not have the last word. Grief doesn’t have the last
word. Pain and suffering do not have the last word. Death doesn’t even have
the last word. The Great Physician has the last word over us, and glory be
to God, they’ll be words of life everlasting!
*For Use as a Closing Prayer: *A hymn from the old maroon hymnbook
*”Lord of Health, Thou Life Within Us” *
Percy Dearmer (1867-1936)
“Lord of health, Thou life within us,
Strength of all that lives and grows,
Love that meets our hearts to win us,
Beauty that around us glows,
Take the praise the brims and flows.
Praise for all our work and leisure,
Mirth and games and jollity,
Study, science, all the treasure,
That is stored by memory,
Skill of mind and hand and eye.
Praise for joys, for sorrows even,
All that leads us up to Thee;
Most of all that out from Heaven
Came Thy Son to set us free,
Came to show us what to be.
Help us now, each moment filling,
Keep us true to Thee and wise;
May our work be keen and willing,
Power and service be our prize,
Till to Thy far hills we rise.”