A Personal Touch
We are going to take a short break on our study of the Spiritual Gifts to discuss something that I noticed in my personal Bible study, and something that I think is often overlooked. The passage we are looking at today is often discussed with two common themes. First, as a passage about having faith that God cares for us and second that God is all powerful. Today we will be looking at Luke 8:43-48.
“43 A woman was there who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had spent her entire livelihood on doctors, but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the hem of his clothes, and at once her bleeding stopped. 45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When everyone denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are surrounding you and pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me. I know that power has gone out from me.” 47 When the woman saw that she couldn’t escape notice, she came trembling and fell before Jesus. In front of everyone, she explained why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. 48 “Daughter, your faith has healed you,” Jesus said. “Go in peace.”
As I have said, this is a common passage that is discussed but like so much more of the Bible, there are more layers to this simple passage. First, we need to discuss the fact that God is Omniscient. Meaning that He is all-knowing, but here we see Him almost playing dumb. If God is Omniscient, how could He not know who it was who touched Him? The answer for that goes into the next layer to this passage. Verse 47 states that the woman saw she could not escape notice which doesn’t make sense when you consider the size of the crowd that was pressing in on Jesus, a fact that Peter points out in his statement to Jesus. If the crowd was large enough that Peter feels the need to point out that Jesus is being touched by a multitude of people, why couldn’t the woman simply blend into the crowd and walk away. No one seemed to notice that it was she who touched Jesus after all so who would have pointed it out?
I can only imagine that Jesus must have been looking at her, that it was under His gaze that she could not escape notice. Which brings back to the fact that God is Omniscient, He knew exactly who it was who touched Him and why they did. So then why would he question the crowd, why not simply speak to her or call her forward like He has done to so many other individuals? This brings us to the final layer to this passage, and that is that God wants to meet with us each individually in whatever state we are in. The woman came to Jesus ill, with only the faith that He could heal her but she walks away whole and with the chance to meet with Him face to face. As God, Jesus would have known who touched Him and why they did; but He still questions the crowd causing the woman to come forward. Jesus wants to meet with us all at an individual level, He does not care what state we are in because we will walk away being made whole in His presence.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex