The Bold Heart of a Woman in Need
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. — Psalms 51:17
For she said, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well." — Mark 5:28
Author
Dr. Roberto Miranda
Summary: After years of suffering and loneliness, the woman with the flow of blood made her way through the crowd, determined to touch Jesus’ cloak and be healed. She did not ask permission or present her case; perhaps she understood his power imperfectly, even in a way that bordered on magic. Yet her need moved her to act boldly. We do not always have all our theology in order, but the Lord has mercy on those who approach him with a passionate heart. When she touched Jesus, she received the healing the doctors had been unable to give her.
When the woman with the flow of blood heard about Jesus, she said, “This is my chance.” After years of suffering and loneliness, she was willing to take any risk to find an answer to her desperate need.
And then she went into the crowd. She had heard that the Lord was passing through her town, devised a way to touch Him, and plunged into the crowd. I imagine she pushed her way through aggressively. She moved among the men and women. She reached the place where He was. Perhaps she met hostile looks wherever she went. But she kept saying, “If I can only touch the edge of His cloak, I will be healed.”
And this is interesting: It has occurred to me that perhaps, if this woman had studied theology or gone to a seminary, she would not have dared to do what she did. Perhaps she would have been too aware of how strange it was to seek healing without asking directly for it from the one who could give it to her, or of how superstitious her action might appear.
Sometimes ignorance is good and necessary. Sometimes we need those bold, impulsive people who leap in without much prior reflection and do what they have to do. The Lord honors the bold person. Such people may not have all their theology perfectly aligned, but they have passionate hearts, and God has mercy on them. For this woman did not ask Jesus for permission to receive her healing from Him. She made up her mind: “I’m going to draw the healing energy out of this mysterious being however I can, and I’m going to get my healing.”
Perhaps she was actually thinking in terms of magic. Perhaps she thought: this man has power; if I touch His clothes, the power will come out of Him. She was not thinking: I’m going to ask His permission, present my case to Him, ask Him to heal me as everyone else did. She came up behind the Lord without saying a word to Him and said: this man has so much power that if I reach my hand into Him and touch Him, He will impart power to me, and what I need to happen will happen. How wonderful the Lord is!
The Lord is like a reservoir of strength and power. Wherever He walks, all the power of the Kingdom of God goes with Him. Healing goes with Him, comfort goes with Him, and so does the answer to humanity’s needs. This woman touched Jesus and received the answer to her need. God healed her life. The Lord Jesus Christ touched her, and what the doctors could not do, the Lord accomplished.