The Resurrection at Galilee - The Woman who Touched Jesus

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 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. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realised that power had gone out from him. He turned round in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ‘You see the people crowding against you,’ his disciples answered, ‘and yet you can ask, “Who touched me?”  ’ But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’ https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/113/MRK.5.25-34 A few Christmases ago, we had an awful health scare. My wife found herself completely unable to swallow anything - even water. Her oesophagus had almost completely closed over and her throat was swollen and painful. She went to a doctor, who tried multiple medications but none of them worked. Then, after weeks of nothing, followed by extreme discomfort, a disturbing sensation of choking and no possibility of swallowing anything, she started to notice a pattern. If she ate anything containing dairy - anything at all - then she would have a distressing choking episode the next day. But if she stopped eating dairy, she was fine. She took this information to a doctor and got medication which helped her to bring these pretty extreme reactions under control. But since then has avoided dairy as if it was poison, even if before she loved ice cream and milk chocolate. The results if she does give in are simply too difficult. That situation went on for several weeks. The odd relapses that she's had have given her symptoms that can last for days. I cannot imagine how the woman who touched Jesus must have felt. Twelve years of a gradual, slow bleed. Twelve years of unfortunate clothing stains, of pitying or mocking glances and gossip and pointing fingers. But there is worse. Much worse. Leviticus 15:19-23 tells us clearly that she would have been considered ceremonially unclean - both her and anything she sat or lay on - while she had this bleed. Could you imagine the abject humiliation of visiting friends and never being able to sit down, or have them visit you and be afraid to even touch your furniture or pots, pans and cups? That is what we are talking about here. Could you imagine the staring and uncomfortable glances of people around you if they realised you were unclean? Could you imagine them avoiding you as if you had some deadly plague? And it gets even worse. Leviticus 7:14-15 teaches that she would not even be allowed to participate in worship by consuming a sacrifice. Barred from worship, considered as unclean, a social pariah, her suffering would be far greater than the condition itself. Now combine this with fact that she had suffered a great deal under a whole series of doctors, who had applied the best medical knowledge of the day and nothing at all had worked. What an awful condition to be in! But one event gave her hope. One piece of news, one single piece of information, gave her a chance for everything to change. And what was that piece of information? Jesus is here. And so we see her, in her humiliation and distress, ignoring the glances and the stares, blanking the rumours and the spiteful words of others, and running through the crowd. Her faith in Jesus was absolute. She felt that even if she could just touch his clothing, then she would be healed. And the amazing thing is that she was. There is an awesome piece of hope here: hope for the outcast and the pariah; hope for the marginalised and the hopeless; hope for the lonely and the hurting. Jesus is here. And He is able to heal. Yes, He is able to heal the hurt and the pain of being isolated. But more, so much more: Jesus is able to to heal the root cause. He is able to return you back to the land of the living. He is able to make you clean. This woman recognised that she needed Jesus. She sought Him even at huge personal cost. She found Him and her faith in Him led to her being healed. If you can sympathise with her, if you feel the pain and distress of being isolated and marginalised, then listen to this news: Jesus is here. Seek Him out. Come to Him. And you will be healed. Having looked at the man and the woman who touched Jesus, lastly we will see THE GIRL JESUS TOUCHED.