Set Faith To Flight

Last night I was reading from Mark 5:24-34 NIV:

[24] So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. [25] 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 was reading this and reflecting on the woman's faith, which Jesus referred to in verse 34. Faith is a gift from God, and she surely had received this gift fully. The question is where did this gift of faith come from. If we read earlier in Mark's Gospel we see that Jesus is working many miracles and healing many people, as well as specific individuals (Mark 1:29-34, Mark 1:40-42, Mark 2:1-5, Mark 3:1-12, Mark 5:1-11). There was clearly enough evidence of His healing power, and word was spreading around the region. There were so many sick people trying to touch Him at one point that he had to get into a boat to avoid the crush of the crowd.

Mark 3:8-10 NIV:
[8] "When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. [9] Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. [10] For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him."

These people were trying to touch Jesus for one of two reasons. Either they were trying to direct Jesus attention to them, or they had seen others get healed simply by touching Him, or both. Either way, they were being healed, and I think they were spreading this testimony about Jesus - that all you have to do is touch His clothes and you will be healed.

I think this is likely where this gift of faith was imparted to her - when she heard the testimony. God is awesome that way, in that when people share their testimony of their experiences with God, faith is spread. One could say the the gift of faith is borne on the wings of the testimony. I can just imagine how her heart must have caught fire when she heard that people were being healed by this man Jesus, some just by touching His clothes.

Also of note, a woman who was bleeding, or suffering from a flowing issue, was considered socially and ceremonially unclean. She wasn't supposed to be in a tightly packed crowd, let alone touching anyone, for whoever she touched became ceremonially unclean - Lev 15:19. She was risking much in pursuing Jesus, but it was all possible because that gift of faith was overriding her normal religious reluctance, her shame, and her fear of discovery. I think this is also why she didn't want to expose her problem publicly, or come to Jesus directly.

Finally, I find it very interesting that Jesus, although wanting to identify who was healed, never revealed the source of her issue, or the fact that she was ceremonially clean. Jesus would not reveal the particular issue, for He knew that the Father does not embarrass his children.

So my encouragement today, from all this, is to share my testimonies, to help set to flight the gift of faith. It is in that place of faith rising, that we want to listen to what the Lord is saying so that we become blessed by God. He will not embarrass us, or cause us to be rejected, but will rather enable us to see awesome things!