The Gospel Encounters – Grasping for God
Reference: Mark 5:24-37.

We are familiar with the account of the woman with the issue of blood. She suffered from an ailment of bleeding for 12 years and had suffered much under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet she was not healed. When she heard about Jesus, in desperation she believed that if she could only touch Jesus’ clothes she would be healed. This scriptural passage points to the key “believing”. Believing demands a corresponding action of acting on what you believe and on who we believe. What can we learn from this passage?

Perseverance and courage.
The woman heard about Jesus and took the effort to look for Him. She also took the courage to brave the crowd to get close enough to Him to touch His clothes. She humbled herself by crawling towards Him. She took the risk of being in the midst of the Jewish crowd and touching Jesus, a Jewish rabbi. During her days, it was against Jewish culture for anyone to touch her due to her condition. In other words, she was a social outcast for 12 years.

Trusting the wrong source.
We also read that the woman had suffered much under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had. Her condition did not improve but instead worsened. In desperation, she believed Jesus for her healing. It is not uncommon in our lives that we depend on things and people other than God. We place our hope on our bosses, sacrificing our family time in order to please our bosses. But we fail to acknowledge it is God who decides whether we have our jobs. We push our children to study, exercise and diet for health but neglect having a relationship with God. We become spiritually famished. Who do we put our trust in?

God always heals.
We are often told to give our heart and trust in God because God always heals. Is this statement true? God does not always heal in the way we see healing. In Apostle Paul’s case, God gave him the grace instead of removing the thorn. God gave Jesus, His Son the strength to go through the crucifixion. The fact here is that we must believe and be dependent on God for our needs. He alone is the right source to fulfill our needs.

In this instance, the woman was not only healed physically, but also spiritually. She was touched by the love of God. She was also healed socially as she was declared clean and people could touch her.

Reflection
God always heals. The question we should ask is “Are we ready to let Him heal us from our sicknesses, weaknesses, bondages and our broken family relationships?”

We are all also called to go and minister to people. Are we ready to fulfill our commission?

- Pastor Joel Yong