THE HEALING TOUCH

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak. She said to herself, "If I only touch His cloak, I will be healed." Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," He said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
When He had gone indoors, the blind men came to Him, and He asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they replied.
Then He touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this."

But they went out and spread the news about Him all over that region.
Matthew 9:20-22, 27-31

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

As Jesus was on His way, the crowds almost crushed Him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

“Who touched Me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against You.”

But Jesus said, “Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.”

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at His feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched Him and how she had been instantly healed.

Then He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

Luke 8:42-48
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever needed healing in your life?

I think it’s a pretty fair assumption that everyone has at one time or another.
Some times the healing needed is physical; at other times, it’s psychological or emotional. It may even be a combination of both.
Point in case is the woman in our scripture passages today, a woman who “had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.” Imagine the physical toll this would have taken on her over the long toll. Mark’s account tells us that she had been under the “care of many doctors and had spent all she had” to try and end her suffering but to no avail. Her condition didn’t get any better but actually worsened.

That would have been bad enough on its own but consider what this condition meant from a social perspective back in New Testament times. Because the woman was consistently bleeding, she would have been labeled as unclean and thus no one would have wanted to come in contact with her. Further, the woman would not have been allowed to participate in any Jewish religious events, lest she desecrate a place of holiness. I don’t know about you but a dozen years is a long time to feel exiled, rejected, unwanted, and unloved. The physical condition was bad enough but the mental anguish had to be equally difficult.
It’s pretty obvious to me that this suffering woman knew of Jesus’ power and ability to heal her. Her own thoughts give that away:

“She thought, “If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed.”

And so touch Jesus, she did.

The scriptures tell us that the woman, in desperate need of relief from her infirmity, “came up behind” Jesus and “touched the edge of His cloak.” And immediately, “her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”

The woman was in dire need of a healing touch and so she touched the person she believed could deliver.
Well, we read where Jesus knew right away that something that happened for He knew “power had gone out from Him.” He demanded to know who had touched Him, much to the amazement of His disciples because with the people crowded around Jesus, there were surely many, many people who had brushed against Him. Still, only the woman had received a portion of His power and she was the only one who knew it. Finally, she decided to come forward and confess.

We read where she came to Jesus and “fell at His feet” while “trembling with fear”. She “told Him the whole truth” before Jesus took over the conversation saying:

“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Think about this for a moment and the impact it had on the woman as well as everyone who witnessed what happened.

The woman once considered unclean was now called Jesus’ daughter. Once unfit to be in the presence of holiness, she now became a child of the Lord Most High, the Son of God, the Lamb of God who had come to take away the sins of the world. Her faith in Jesus had gained her healing. Perhaps this is why so many people had touched Jesus but only the woman received His power, because she had the faith to trust He could remove her affliction and restore her to full health. She believed Jesus could be a life changer for her and He became just that.

Friends, this woman’s exceptional display of faith should serve as an example for all of us who need cured from whatever ails us, whether physically, psychologically, or both. Indeed, we can’t expect Jesus to do a full work of healing within us if we don’t have the faith that He can do it. If we read and trust in the scriptures as we should because God’s word is truth, then there’s simply no reason to not trust Him for the Bible leaves no doubt that Jesus possesses the healing touch.

He did back in the days of the New Testament and He still does today.
Go back to Matthew’s account where we find that the woman wasn’t the only one healed that day.
For after Jesus left the cured woman, he went with Jairus, the synagogue leader, to resurrect his daughter from death to life (see yesterday’s devotion from Matthew 9:23-26) before encountering two blind men who also acknowledged their faith in Jesus by answering, “Yes, Lord” after He asked them if they believed that He was able to heal them. After their profession of faith, Jesus simply “touched their eyes” and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you", and just as quickly as the woman’s bleeding had stopped, the men could see once again. Like her, Jesus had given them a whole new lease on life, all because of His healing touch.
Friends, I don’t know what your circumstances are today but I do know one thing, we serve and worship a Savior who has the healing touch. All we have to do is have faith in Him, faith like those who are in our scripture passages today and faith like so many other believers today who held onto their faith in Jesus and found themselves cured, renewed and restored.

What do you need healed today? And how would you respond if Jesus asked you, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
My hope is that you would echo the words of the blind men and boldly say, Yes, Lord”, and then receive the power of His healing touch.

It’s waiting and ready for you.  
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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