Why She Touched Him

Luke 8:40-48

And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. (verse 43)

We don’t know her name. We know she is exhausted, physically and emotionally. She is isolated, kept at a social distance because of her illness. Her symptoms are personal, even embarrassing in her culture. She is financially ruined, having tried doctors and healers and gimmicks and home remedies: anything that might help. She is desperate.

Do you know someone who is desperate to be well? Consuming or chronic sickness puts us at our most powerless. We realize that even our own bodies are not ours to control. It is scary, and it can feel hopeless.

This woman needs healing—but even before that, she needs hope.

And somehow, she finds it. Somehow, she comes to believe that Jesus of Nazareth has a power that no one else has been able to offer her. It isn’t by accident that she bumps into him on a busy street.

She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. (verse 44) …. And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. (verse 47)

In the gospels, just as in our lives and our world today, sickness and physical pain are, unfortunately, never far off. And where we find that pain, we will find Jesus. Sometimes he takes the pain away; other times he offers his presence and strength and compassion: a hand to hold, an ear to listen. A friend who will not leave. In story after story we see Jesus bringing hope to those who are broken, ill, contagious, and physically hurting. And we see Jesus himself suffer physically at the end of his life, resolved on what he has undertaken.

Close your eyes and let God bring to mind someone—including yourself—who needs hope in the midst of physical pain. Pray for this person. Pray that this person will seek Jesus, believing that he still offers hope beyond anything we can ask or imagine.

If the person who came to your mind already believes this, commit to encouraging him or her—by letting the person know that you prayed, or by sending a card or a text. If the person on your heart is seeking or far from faith in God, pray for a changed heart, and for opportunities to love this person as Jesus does.