And Jesus arose, and followed him (the ruler whose daughter had died), and so did his disciples. And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; your faith has made you whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
Matthew 9:19-22
What a difference a day makes. For the better part of a year Jesus was situated in the region of Galilee with Capernaum as His home town. Everywhere he went people clamored to see or touch Him. When He followed the ruler to his house a crowd of people followed along with Him. If we could imagine the scene it would probably have been chaotic with all the people crowded around Him. No doubt there was a lot of chatter among the people as they excitedly walked to see what would happen at the ruler’s house.
What Doctors Couldn’t Heal…
Somewhere, among that crowd there was a desperate woman. We don’t know her name, her age or her appearance. What we do know is that she had been hemorrhaging for twelve long years. We know that she had spent her living on “doctors” and had only grown worse. We also know that she was a woman of faith for she had forced her way through the crowd to just touch the garment of Jesus for she believed that if she could just touch His garment she would be healed. She did, and she was healed and when she touched the garment of Jesus, He knew that power had gone out of Him for He said, “who touched Me?” Others were bumping up against but none received anything by doing so; only the woman who believed. (An interesting side note to this story is that even though power went out of Jesus to heal the woman, His power was not diminished.)
Jesus turned and saw the woman and said to her, “Be of good comfort, your faith has made you whole.” And the woman was made whole from that hour. What a powerful thing faith in Christ is; you have it, use it. Amen.
