“A woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.”

Luke 8:42-48

“Someone touched me.”

Jesus performed miracles to reveal something about himself or God. Usually, he was pretty involved in the process. He would touch someone, and they would walk. He would say a gentle command, and the sick would be fine. He would make a mud pie, and sight would be restored.

But one time, Jesus performed a healing almost as if by accident. A desperate woman with over a decade of uncontrollable bleeding made her way through a crowd and touched the edge of Jesus’ shirt, and she was healed. Jesus, feeling the power going out of him, turned around searching for the culprit.

“Someone touched me,” he said.

The woman fell at the feet of Jesus, publically confessing her plight. Because she was considered unclean, she should not have been in public, much less in a crowded street, for her uncleanliness was contagious to all who would touch her. Jesus should have been made unclean by her touching his cloak.

Instead she was healed. She was made clean. Jesus felt the power go out of him. Her faith in his ability to heal her made her whole. Jesus used this healing to demonstrate that his cleanliness is more powerful than her uncleanliness.

We cannot make Jesus unclean, but he can make us whole.

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION:

Is the risk of coming before Jesus in the midst of a crowded street confessing our need of healing publicly worth the possibility of Jesus healing us? How do we act like this woman at times? Do we try to sneak up on Jesus for a healing so that he nor anyone else notices us?

PRAYER:

Jesus, I confess I am in need of a healing miracle from you. I am weak, I am tired, I am sick, I am overwhelmed, I feel unloved, I am lonely, I am broken … I am desperate to reach out and touch your cloak and feel your healing power. Make me well. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

READ THE PASSAGE IN CONTEXT:

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