Touching Jesus

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

TOUCHING JESUS

Matt 9:18-26

18 While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. 20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." 22 Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. 23 When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24 he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.

NIV

Having considered that Jesus raised this little girl or daughter from the dead, we need to think about what happened on His way to the ruler’s house. Matthew leaves some of the details out, but because we know this story from the other gospels, there is more than Matthew gives us. First, we have to know Jesus did not travel alone, as well, it would appear a crowd always gathered where he went. So the picture we have is people shoving and pushing all-around in this group of people following after Jesus as he was about to go raise a girl from the dead. We have to believe the ruler did not come to Jesus in private because Jesus was still at Matthew’s house having dinner with a group of tax collectors and there were his disciples, some Pharisees hanging around asking why he was having dinner with sinners. This is the setting in which the ruler came and knelt before Jesus. So, everyone knew where Jesus was going and what he was about to do, so naturally, a crowd was all around him. This is the setting in which this poor woman had spent all she had on every kind of doctor she could find in order to cure her of this constant bleeding. We are only told that she had an issue of blood, never Mark or Luke give us exactly what her problem was, but it is thought her bleeding was of the feminine nature and that would have made her unclean in the eyes of the Jews. This might be the reason she did not make an attempt at a personal plea but merely crawled through the crowd to touch just the hem of His garment. From Mark and Luke we are told that when she did touch the hem of his garment, Jesus felt the power flow from him and reacted to it. He asked who touched me and his disciples were rather taken back, as it would seem Jesus was being pushed and stoved as he walked to the ruler’s house. Yet, this woman caused power to flow from him and he wanted to know where she was. We have to believe Jesus knew who it was, and what her situation was, as he felt the power flow into her, even though she would have been either kneeling or crawling on the ground under the crowds of people. When Jesus stopped and asked, she finally admitted it was her, and Jesus told her that her faith had made her whole. What we must see here is that it was not Jesus who would heal her, although it was, but it was her faith, her belief that if she could just touch the hem of His garment she would be healed. Jesus did not exchange words with her as he did with the lame man at the pool, or the blind man he put mud on his eyes, or so many others that he had a personal encounter with. This was a simple act of faith by this woman without having any conversation with Jesus or asking to be healed, or coming to him in front of everyone. She knew she would be healed if she could only touch the hem of his garment. This is the kind of faith we need to have. We may not spend all we have on doctors, but we also have insurance that pays quite a bit; however, we do go see the doctors expecting to be healed. Why don’t we come to Jesus and expect to be healed? Maybe we should just touch the hem of his garment.