MARK 5:24-34 – And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
THEME OF THE DAY: A PICTURE OF FAITH. Today’s scripture is a “thriller” that, if it were a movie, would keep us on the edge of our seats. The action is riveting, The emotions high and for believers in the Lord Jesus, it is filled with all the elements portraying true faith in the Lord. So, let’s take our places among the crowd and observe a woman modeling faith.
First, the woman has a blood disease that is incurable by human means – And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. Twelve years of pain, many second opinions by doctors, expended her savings, and all ended in hopeless failure. She got sicker and sicker. The lesson of faith? We must get to “the end of our ropes” in life before we have any hope of coming to Christ. And this is a work of God. No one comes to Christ for the healing of sin until they are convinced there is no healing of sin from a human source. That leads to the second, third and fourth “brush strokes” in this woman’s picture of faith.
The now desperate woman hears of Jesus and His healing powers. Against all hope but with nowhere else to go, she pushes through the crowd to get to Him. She desperately abandons herself to Him – She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well. What do we learn of true faith from these actions? It believes Jesus is able to meet our greatest need – forgiveness. This woman did not question the ability of Jesus to meet her need. For us? Saving faith exercises confidence in the knowledge of who Jesus is and what He promised to do. And this confidence moves us to reach out to Jesus. Just like she did physically touching His garment, we do so spiritually. As she received the reward of her faith, physical healing, and we receive spiritual healing by the exercise of the same type of faith.
So, a picture of faith; we recognize our hopeless need, we then position ourselves toward Jesus realizing His willingness and ability to forgive our sins, and we follow up by confidently casting ourselves upon Him, knowing He will do what He promised!
PRAYER: “Father, teach me not only what true faith in Your Son looks like but also to daily live it.”
QUOTE: “True faith contains not only knowledge of the Lord, but confidence in Who He is and What He does.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim