Encounter: The Woman Who Touched

Scripture: Mark 5:24-34 NIV

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 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.”

Prayer:

Dear Jesus,

Faith and a silent prayer is all the woman had at this point in her life, but it was enough. Out of money and options, clinging to one final strand of hope, she reached out to you. This encounter was intended to be anonymous, with the woman lost in a crowd, receiving and then leaving. But you called to her and made it personal, blessing her as “Daughter.” You are an intimate God, one who knows us and loves us as your own beloved child. Your healing touch is personal to our needs, deeply intimate and familial, and we are left with peace. Thank you, Jesus.

Amen.

Read all of 40 Days of Prayer at easter.crossings.church.