20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
This is one of my favorite verses. I paints a couple of really powerful images for me. First one is that Jesus is so powerful and mighty that the mere touch of his clothing can produce miraculous events. That's amazing to me. Secondly, this woman who had been suffering for so long, and had probably been subject to the ridicule of the day, due to her condition....had so much faith in Jesus that she knew if she could just touch him...... There's almost a "humble-ness" about her approach. She doesn't want the full attention of the crowd, or to bother Jesus too much. But, if she can just touch his robe, she knows she'll get relief. I love that!
I remember hearing a sermon once about this verse. The pastor was talking about the physical effort that it took Jesus to perform the miracles. So, even though he didn't see the woman sneaking up behind him and touching him.....he could feel the flowing thru him into the woman. This is consistent with God resting on the 7th, after working to create he universe.
Its funny reading thru these chapters.....its like a gatlin gun of stories. From one to the next. Miracle, after miracle, after miracle, after parable. They come rapid-fire. My "movie" mind is looking for more detail, and for more transitions.
later
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I love reading all these accounts of Jesus and imaging what it must have been like to live in these times. There must have been a tremendous buzz, it doesn't say how this woman knew who Jesus was but I'm sure she had been hearing of the miracles he had performed or even seen something first hand before. I know this is people coming face to face with God in the human flesh but for some reason I never have really stopped and thought about how that must have felt to those who really understood that...I mean really he's standing right there in front of you talk about crazy to see in person. I can't even type words to express the WHOAAAAA! that I'm thinking they are feeling. It would have been an amazing time to walk the earth, imagine if they had twitter accounts back then, they would be blowing up every time Jesus did something.
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