If I just touch his clothes...

 If I just touch his clothes.....

I am making my way through Leviticus right now...rules and regulations, clean and unclean....

As a woman, I was caught up again in the rules of uncleanness...but more, the woman who suffered 12 years who came to Jesus.

It is not fun being ill, going from doctor to doctor with no help...no hope...rejected, unclean, put aside ...walking alone...wondering, “will I even find a cure or is this my destiny?” Been  there, done that...but, her’s kept her not only unwell, but also apart...can you imagine, not mater what you touched, there was constant cleaning, constant care, constant doctoring, constant hope deferred, constant let downs...for 12 years...

I can almost hear her saying/thinking, “ I have heard of this man’s healing...would he be able to heal me, unclean that I am...maybe if I just touch his garment,  that might be enough...how can I get closer without too much attention from those constantly surrounding him......there, there is an opportunity...” and she silently moves in to touch,  just to  touch Jesus’ garment to immediately feel healed...what immense joy, what relief, what awe...

Then  to be called out....”who has touched my clothes?”

Did she cower, hiding her face, trying to look small amongst the crowd...fearing retribution...falling at his feet...telling him her story...

Instead, I can imagine He looked at her with his infinite compassion...

Saying, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Daughter...how personal

Peace and be freed...how caring ...no more seeking...She found her answer...

Thank YOU....

“‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. “‘When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the Lord for the uncleanness of her discharge.

Leviticus 15:25-30

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 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. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 

Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 

He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Mark 5:25-34