This morning I am meditating on the women who was healed by touching Jesus' robe.
(NIV)Mark 5:25-34
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. [26] 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. [27] When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, [28] because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” [29] Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. [30] At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” [31] “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” [32] But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. [33] Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. [34] He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
I am conscious of several things:
1. This story is included in Matthew, Mark and Luke so it was quite a significant miracle in Jesus ministry.
2. This is an excellent example of the gift of faith - she knew in her heart that she would be healed by a simple act
3. This shows the Father's heart for those that are sick - the thought about touching Jesus cloak had to come from Him
4. This event shows that Jesus was only operating as a man, for He was not aware of the women's need before she touched his robe, He didn't know who she was after she touched Him, and He didn't know her condition. If He was operating as God, He would have known all three things.
5. There is a real felt power when the Holy Spirit moves through you (sometimes). This is not just in their minds, but there was an actual transfer of power which Jesus felt, and so did the woman.
6. This event led to a whole new type of ministry interaction, the touching of fabric, and imbuing it with power to heal - (NIV)Acts 19:11-12
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, [12] so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
7. Jesus demonstrated many different techniques when healing people, and those techniques were examples and were later developed more so by the Holy Spirit working through the Apostles. He healed people without ever touching them ( Centurion's servant, Caananite woman's daughter) as well as through touching His robe, or touching them with His hands. He was operating in the Holy Spirit and aware of how the Holy Spirit was able to operate, not being limited by such a simple thing as physical touch.
8. Following this miracle in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus sends out the Apostles and gives them authority and power to heal every disease. In other words, He imparted to them the Holy Spirit that might be able to do the same works as He demonstrated. We have received this very same Holy Spirit. See (NIV)Acts 10:44-47: While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. [45] The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. [46] For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, [47] “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” Here Peter made no distinction between what He had received at Pentecost, and what these Gentiles had received.
Lord, help us hear Your words to us and being encouraged and full of the Holy Spirit, guide us to do these same things!
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