Thoughts on the bleeding woman in Matthew 9

If you saw her, you would think of her as a dirty beggar. A woman with no hope. And you certainly wouldn’t want to hang around her. Cursed for twelve years with a bloody discharge.

To be clean, to obey the law and stay pure, you’d have to avoid her. Look away quickly and thank God you weren’t like her.

But you’d be wrong.

This woman had a hope like no other and He was footsteps away, crushed in a crowd. He was a busy man. A healer. And He was on his way to another miracle, to visit a dying girl of an important official.

She wouldn’t bother him. Had no need to interrupt him. She only needed one touch, and with that faith, she reached out her hand. Her fingers brushed across that rough linen of his robe, and instantly, hope birthed healing.

He felt. He turned. He saw. He spoke and called her daughter.

In this Advent season, what are you hoping for? Just one touch, maybe?

To touch, you must reach. To reach, you must have the faith to lift your hand. Believe that the baby in the manger came for you to be able to touch his cloak. By his very presence, he invites you to interrupt him and grasp his robe.

I wonder what Mary felt when she picked up her baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes. When she touched the cloak of her toddling son, did she feel the power of Messiah? When she washed the dirty garment of an energetic boy, could she sense the miracle unfolding? When she embraced her grown son….what did she feel?

Reach with me today, friends. His cloak is touchable and his healing is sure.