There is a story in the new testament about a woman who approaches Jesus to be healed. She has a problem, and has been menstrauting for 12 years. At first glance this story doesn’t stand out as anything extraordinary, but when you simply illuminate 2 things, it becomes a totally different story.
- Women on their periods were considered “unclean” under levitical law. Under the law, a man was not allowed to touch a woman, or sit where a woman sat when she was menstrauting. They were seen as unclean, and were, to some degree, outcast.
- Jesus doesn’t actively heal the woman, she sneaks through the crowd thinking “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” (Mark 5: 28). When she touches him, she’s immediately healed. But he doesn’t leave it there. Jesus wants to find her in the massive crowd of people.
So, she was unclean, for 12 years. She had spent all she had trying to get a cure. Both to find relief from her suffering and to no longer be unclean. She had been on the margins of society for 12 years; Untouched, and possibly seen as a cursed individual. She was most definitely single by default (no man would’ve taken her as his wife), I’d imagine all the little girls she grew up with were having children and families, and this affliction was literally ruining her life.
In desperation she snuck through the crowd and touched Jesus’ clothes. Immediately she was healed.
Jesus stops immediately and tries to find her, when she does come forward, she’s trembling with fear. Jesus, with a smile on his face he tells her to be glad that she is now free from suffering, that her faith has made her well.
Jesus finds her, to redeem her. To redeem all the thoughts she had about herself as unclean, as less than, as a problem, a burden, an outcast. He wanted to find her, not because he needed to, but because she needed him to.
I think that Jesus found her because to him it wasn’t enough for her to be healed, she needed redemption. She needed to know that he not only authorized it, he blessed it. And he blessed her.
How often are we like this? We might think God loves us because he has to, when in fact, he has affection for us.
The title of this post is a quote from Judah Smith of City Church when he talks about this story. I felt like that quote sums it up so well.
Because of His grace, and your small measure of faith, God is adamant and passionate about revealing his acceptance and approval to you.
-Judah Smith
God loves you with a love you can’t comprehend, and he is passionate about you understanding that. He turns around to find you in the crowd, trembling with fear and says “Go in peace child, your faith has made you well.”
Below is the track from City Church’s record “Jesus Is ______.”