I’ve never been great in crowds. So it was one afternoon, I found myself in a large, excited crowd waiting to get in to an auditorium for an event. There was only enough room to turn around a two by two foot square of ground for most of the time we waited outside, but then, when the doors opened, the crowds pressed in- in a race for the best seats. My two by two spot quickly disappeared and I could feel strangers pushing at me from all sides.
You couldn’t have given me a million dollars to point out a single individual who was touching me for those few minutes. There was just too much going on, too much sensory input for me to notice a particular person, and my focus was on getting to a specific location but about 2000 years ago, Jesus knew He’d been touched by a woman in a similar crowd:
And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched (the border of) his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. Mk. 5:25-29
This woman was broke, sick, and tired of being sick. She was finding no help with man and their methods. One day, she hears about Jesus and the healing miracles at His hands. Who knows how long she had to wait after that until He was close enough for her to reach, but she believed if she could only touch his clothing, she would be healed. In her weakened condition, she would have had to struggle to press through the throng to even get close enough to touch him, but she was desperate, and that gave her the resolve she needed.
One touch of Jesus and she was instantly healed- she could feel it! Jesus didn’t lay a hand on her, He didn’t speak words to her, He didn’t realize she was there… right up until she touched Him and virtue (Gr. dunamis = miraculous power) went out from Him.
And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. Mk. 5:30-34 (also Mt. ; Lk. )
His disciples must have thought Jesus was nuts when He asked who touched Him because the people were pressed up against Him (press- thronging) and there would be no natural way for them to figure out who specifically touched Him. But Jesus knew, and He turned to look at her. She must have been shocked to be ‘caught’ and perhaps worried that He would be angry, so she fell at His feet for mercy. I’m sure His heart was aching for her with all she’d been through, so He simply told her to go in peace- whole (healthy).
One thing stands out to me today. There were plenty of people who were touching Jesus at the time, but scripture records healing virtue leaving only once… to the woman who had faith. Where was the faith of the others in the crowd? Did they feel their healing could only be had by Jesus’ touch or words? How many of them missed out on healing because they simply could not understand that Jesus’ power was greater than purely words or touch, and could be displayed in whatever way God chose? The woman chose not to box God in to a standard method of healing, and her faith was rewarded. We have that same choice.
We can choose to be one of the crowd pressing in but not receiving anything, or we can allow God to move outside the box of our predetermined methods, and just see what great things He will do in our lives!!!