Tuesday, October 5th, 2021

We know that life is better in pursuit of Jesus than in retreat. But how many of us feel apprehensive approaching Jesus with our full selves, revealing all to him? It’s easy to speak to Jesus about the things we are proud of, the things we hope for, and the people we care about; but it is never easy to speak to the Lord about the things we are embarrassed by. First, we have to admit to ourselves that a problem exists. Then, we have to speak honestly about it to our Lord and Savior. Neither step is easy or fun! There is a passage in Mark 5 about a woman who has been bleeding for years and years, who knows in her heart that just touching Jesus will heal her. We can gather that she is likely too embarrassed of her condition to approach Jesus and speak to him directly about it. So, she presses through a crowd and just briefly touches his cloak. Jesus immediately noticed because he felt that “power had gone out from him.” He insisted upon finding who touched him, even against the disciples seeming indifference. The woman knew she had been found out and the Bible says she “fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.” How many of us can relate to that feeling? But the amazing thing about Jesus is he responded with love, grace, and, in calling her “daughter,” a recognition of who this woman was. Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” That which we hold back from the Lord is that which disguises us from Him. Said another way, Jesus doesn’t know us until we give him our whole selves. Today, give to the Lord your whole self, revealing that which you have been hiding for too long so that he will recognize you and bless you for being his own.

“A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 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 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.” – Mark 5: 24-34