Deliberately

 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.  “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.”  When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed.  “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” Luke 8:43-48

Ok, so you know Jesus has been touring around the ancient world, doing amazing things, and drawing amazing crowds right. He’s been teaching and preaching and healing all kinds of diseases. Jesus decided to go to the other side of the lake to resume his ministry, and the crowds were so loyal that they went before Him and waited for Him to arrive. Judging by the fact that the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 men happens in the chapter after this story, we can infer that a crowd of similar size was present. Now that story says 5,000 men were in the crowd fed by Jesus. But scholars estimate that when adding women and children, there were probably more than 10,000 people with Jesus at this time. Now I know we’ve been quarantining and socially distancing recently, so let me remind you of what 10,000 people look like. The seating capacity for the Von Braun Center in Huntsville is 10,000. So if you’re from Oakwood or around that culture, imagine alumni weekend. That is a lot of people! But this isn’t in an arena with seats and a mic. 

So everyone is pressing in to try to hear Jesus and get as close to him as possible. These people are all trying to get to Jesus, hear him, and experience him. As a son with two other brothers, I know what it’s like to fight for the attention of our mom when everyone else has something to say or ask her, but I can only imagine how hard it is to get one person’s attention when 10,000 other people are after the same thing. 

So Jesus and the disciples are being crushed by the crowd. It's loud. It's hot. They’re all trying to get his attention. Eventually, a local church leader named Jairus catches up with Jesus. He falls at Jesus’ feet and begs Jesus to come with him because his 12-year-old daughter is dying. Jesus starts to follow. This is an important mission. This is an emergency, but as Jesus with is walking something happens. 

A woman being crushed in the crowd reaches out as far as she can and grazes the end of Jesus’ jacket with her fingertips. This woman had been dealing with the issue of constantly bleeding for 12 years. She had gone to various doctors and found no cure. 

She thought to herself, if I could just touch the end of his jacket, maybe I’ll be well. And that’s just what happened. The bible says she was immediately healed. The effects of 12 years of hurt washed away. She trusted Jesus with her issue and the burden immediately left. 

But as she touched the jacket, Jesus stopped and said ‘who touched me?’ Whenever Jesus asks a question it’s interesting because He knows all right? But, questions always come before a moment of growth because like a good teacher, Jesus doesn’t ask questions for the sake of His own understanding, He asks questions to prepare his audience to be taught. Jesus asks the question and His disciples are understandably confused. Peter, one of my favorite disciples, jumps up and is like “yo Jesus, I don’t know if you forgot, but its 10,000 people tryna get to you. The entire crowd is touching you.”

Jesus responds and I love how the New Living Translation words it. Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me.” Someone intentionally touched Him. In the gospel of Mark, we see that Jesus looks around to see who touched Him. He knew who it was but I think He still wanted to show us how intentional He is in seeking out people who need Him. 

The woman wanted to be a fly on the wall but soon realized she couldn’t stay hidden. She began to shake and fell at Jesus’ feet. She began to explain how she was immediately made good as new, with only memories to show for her previous condition, after reaching out and touching Him. 

The crowd was still as they heard her story and watched. Then Jesus breaks the silence and says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

In earlier devotionals, I’ve talked about how faith and fear start with the same question: “what if.” A “what if” statement led to her healing. “What if I just reach out and give my issue to Jesus.” Her faith had made her well. Her belief in what Jesus could do was the key to reversing 12 years of hurt and pain. Her faith in an encounter with Jesus was the difference-maker. Her faith is what made the difference in allowing Jesus to heal her.

Now we like to focus on the woman being healed and that’s all good, but let’s think about other surrounding characters. When we think about the story, a question is brought to mind. 

If all this woman did was touch Jesus and she was healed from an ailment the best doctors of the time couldn’t solve, why do we only hear of one healing?

Hear me out. The bible says the crowd was pressing against Jesus. 10,000 people with similar needs were everywhere! 10,000 people touched or at least tried to touch Jesus. 10,000 people took off work, packed a lunch, and got baby sitters to camp out and wait for Jesus. 10,000 people camped out and waited for Jesus to come like it was a shoe release. They wanted an experience with Him. They came to church. They put it in their schedule. They got up and went to have worship. It seemed like they did everything right! Why do we only hear of one lady getting healed?!?!!

Jesus makes the answer clear. She had faith. That’s what made her well. Her faith,  her action of moving forward with trust is how she came out of this story free from the thing that had caused so much pain in the past.  So what is faith? Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Faith is the belief that even if you don’t know all the details, you can let go and trust in the outcome. 

She believed in Jesus and trusted in him to make her paths straight. She believed that Jesus could heal her and took the first step in handing her issue to Him and seeing what He could do. 

Everyone touched him. Peter said the crowds were pressing against him! But Jesus said one person was deliberate. Deliberate means to be intentional or on purpose. This wasn’t a mistake. This wasn’t a casual bump. She trusted that Jesus was so strong that her dainty touch would be enough to turn her life around. And it was. Nothing huge. Nothing crazy. Just a faith-filled pass Jesus. She trusted that she could give her burdens to Jesus and he would make something of it. 

Can I come down your street? I go to Oakwood, where hundreds of students look forward to going to AY. We plan their weeks around it. We wait and camp out for the doors to open. We can't wait to be in the presence of Jesus. But only a few of us are being changed because of our encounter. So many of us come back each week like drug addicts, looking for one more hit. We wait anxiously to see what Max or Kristian will preach. We anticipate what Bryce or Aaron will play or what Natrickie or Na’veh will sing. We are like the crowd, we wait for Jesus to come and long for a moment in His presence, but so many of us leave the same way we came because we go for the presence of Jesus but dont trust Him with our issues. We come every week seeking Jesus but don’t leave changed because we don’t actually hand over our issue. This has been exposed through the Pandemic. We pride ourselves in the experience of our services but are realizing how temporary some of our healings were because we didnt actually give our issue to Jesus. So many of us use Jesus as extra credit. We live our lives juggling our issues and balancing our fears, only to go to him as a pick-me-up when we can’t carry on our own. We need to stop trying to go to these other remedies and actually give our issues to Christ. Yes, It is a process to let go and let God work but it’s not as hard as we make it seem because Jesus is doing all the work for it. We just have to continue to trust Him. We have tried other remedies for YEARS. And nothing is working. Like this woman we tried other Doctors. We tried money and acceptance and sex and weed and alchohal and friends and relationahips. We even tried willpower and self help books and therapy. We tried healthy methods of healing at times, but we havent given our issue to the real healer and that's why we keep coming back the same. Trust Him. Let go. 

Faith is trust. Trust and letting go. Letting go allows you to let God. 

We all say we want God to take the wheel of our life but we really aren’t letting Him. It’s my prayer that we will begin to trust God enough to let go and give him more of our situation every day. I don’t wanna go through all these doctors and other remedies to no avail like this woman. I want Jesus to be my number one option. I want to trust more now. I want to let go. I want to be healed.

God revealed Himself in a special way to me recently. I went on a morning walk for worship and I listened to Make Room by Jonathon McReynolds. I was singing to God and He said something crazy. Stop just singing to me and let me sing to you. I was singing about how I want to make room for what I treasure. I want to make space for what I want. But God is saying the same thing to us. 

I find space for what I treasure

I make time for what I want

I choose my priorities and

Pace,  you're my number one

Yes, Pace you're my number

So I will make room for you

I will prepare for two

So you don't feel that you

Can't live here, please live in me.

We often think that it’s hard to engage in a relationship with God but the thing is, He wants to be close with us significantly more than we want to be close with him. He will make time for what he wants. He will make space for what he wants. 

In the story, Jesus was walking with Jarius to save a dying little girl. He was on a mission. He was with someone important and well known, but He slowed down enough and made room in the crowd and his day for a little woman who needed Him. He made space for what He treasured. He made time for what He wanted. He made space.

The idea of having faith in Jesus seems a lot easier when we realize He is also working to be in a relationship with us. 

Jesus is at the door knocking already. He already made the arrangement. He cleared His schedule. He’s just waiting for you to accept the space He has made and in so we can build that relationship. He already did the work of coming to you. Now all you have to do is open the door and let Him in. He wants to be with you. Just let Him in.

I pray I continue to receive more and more of the LOVE Jesus is trying to pour into me. I pray I continue to let Him into my space so that we can be friends. I want to build my faith so my encounters are life-changing. I want to get to know Him more and more. Amen.