Mark 5

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Mark 5:30-34, At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around 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.”

In this chapter, Jesus is healing and transforming lives.  Remember, in God’s Kingdom there is no sickness so Jesus healed people physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 

The focus verses for today describe Jesus healing the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years.  This is probably my favorite miracle (if we are allowed to have a favorite.)  I can’t help but think about this woman’s difficult life.  To be bleeding in Jewish culture meant she was unclean.  She couldn’t go to the synagogue, nor was she really supposed to be around people.  If she had been married, her husband would have long left her because of her condition.  She would have lived a very isolated, lonely life, not to mention being poor and physically weak.

And then Jesus comes along.  She must have heard about him.  She knows where he will be passing and she takes a chance.  She wasn’t supposed to even be in the crowd because she was unclean.  But something within her knows that this man could change things.  Her faith is beyond what Jesus has seen in the religious people or those in high positions.  When he asks who touched him, my guess is he knew exactly who touched him.  This would be a teaching moment.

He calls out the bleeding woman and holds her up as an example.  In a crowd of people who see themselves as righteous and important, Jesus elevates this humble woman above all the others.  She is no longer ostracized but healed, whole, and part of Jesus’ family.  That word “daughter” would have been so healing for her.  Condemned by the rest of society, Jesus empowers this woman and calls her his own. 

Let’s pray…Lord Jesus, Thank you for calling me your own.  Despite my sins and the ways I mess up over and over again, you include me in your family and that makes all the difference.  Help us be about empowering others as you do.  Help me see people through your eyes.  More of you and less of me.  In Your Name, Amen.