We Must Do Our Part If We Want to Receive Something from the Lord

This woman is called to make a superhuman effort, to take very serious risks when she sets out to seek a blessing from the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider that, in the culture of her time and in the Hebrew Pharisaic religion of her time, this woman was considered unclean; she was like a menstruating woman, who in the Old Testament was considered unclean for a time. She was indeed in the same situation, and therefore she was not supposed to be in a crowd, contaminating those around her.

Nevertheless, because of her need, this woman decides to break with the protocols of her time, plunge into the midst of the crowd, and make her way through. Can you imagine this crowd packed tightly around Jesus? It says that they were pressing against Him. There was an urgent need among that crowd. Christ had power; He had words of life. The people were in need, and He had the answer to their needs.

He was going with His disciples, and this crowd was following Him because they were on their way to the home of this prominent man named Jairus. And this woman got up with a mission in mind. I imagine that she did everything possible; she made her way through and pushed through the crowd to reach the place where the Lord Jesus Christ was, and she broke the law because she needed what He could provide for her.

So, brothers and sisters, many times it is important for us to pay the price if we want to receive something from the Lord. We have to be diligent; we have to do everything within our power. Many times, God does not do everything. He is glorified when we are enterprising, strong, and courageous and do our part to receive the blessing.

This woman knew that staying at home would not be enough; she had to do her part as well. And not only that, but she does not ask Jesus for permission to touch His garments. She does not perhaps do as other figures in Scripture did, presenting themselves before Him, or as blind Bartimaeus did, crying out from afar, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” so that He would pay attention to him. This woman goes beyond all of that and approaches, as we might say, almost illegitimately in a sense, and touches the edge of Jesus’ cloak without asking whether she is being disrespectful, whether He will be upset with her, or whether He will respond to this anonymous gesture she makes. She knows that she has to do her part in this matter.

And again and again, one sees in Scripture that very important element: God does not do everything. If you have a need, there is something that you too are going to have to do; there is a part that God is glorified in your carrying out as well. If you want to be blessed materially, financially, for example—well, do you need a job? You have to knock on doors; you have to undertake things in the name of the Lord; you have to talk with people; you have to read the newspapers. And everything you are doing must be bathed in prayer, believing that, as the apostle Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gives the growth.”

There is a part that falls to us: planting, knocking, collaborating with others. And one does all of that knowing that, ultimately, the final outcome, the final part, belongs to God. He is the one who does the final part; the Lord ensures the blessing and the success; the Lord ensures the growth. But your part is also to do your part. And when human effort, imbued with faith, meets the blessing of God—the God who wants to bless—that combination creates an atomic bomb that destroys barriers, removes boulders from the road, and brings the blessing we are seeking. It is so important for us always to understand that. This woman does her part and draws the blessing from God.

Another example I will give you before concluding is the case of the paralytic’s friends. When they arrive at the house where Jesus is, they find that the crowd is filling the house. They cannot reach Jesus, so they climb onto the roof, break through the roof, do something illegitimate, damage someone’s property, and lower their friend through the roof. And the Lord, moved by their act of faith, cannot help but heal this paralyzed man; and it says that because of their faith, He intervenes on behalf of this man.

You know that the Lord expects our faith to manifest itself through works. That is why the apostle James says that faith without works is dead. This does not necessarily mean works in the sense that they justify us before God, but rather works in the sense of our part: doing our part, investing what falls to us, so that the Lord may then find something—a deposit at the level of time and space, on the human plane—upon which to bring down His lightning bolt, His power, His energy of healing and provision.

That is the wonderful lesson this woman gives us as well. She did her part; she made her effort; she got up early; she took risks; she made her way through the crowd; and that daring act of faith unleashed the wonderful movement of Jesus that resulted in her healing. God loves the strong and courageous believer. May God grant that each of us may do our part, even if we do not feel the desire to do it, but knowing that this is what He often needs in order to bless us.

May the Lord continue to bless us, and please let us remain closely connected to this wonderful passage, which still has much to teach us. God bless you. Your friend and brother, Roberto Miranda, bids you farewell.

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