In Luke 8:43-48 (NLT) we read about a woman with an “issue of blood:” “44 Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped. 45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” Let’s summarize the situation: This woman had an “issue of blood” for 12 years. She had visited every doctor she could find until all her money was gone. No one could help her; in fact, she only got worse. Then she heard that Jesus was passing by (on His way to Jairus' house). She thought, "If I could just get close enough to touch him – just close enough to touch his clothes – just close enough to touch the hem of his garment – I can be healed!" She was in a desperate situation. She was moved out of a sense of desperation. Jesus represented her only hope for healing. So, she presses through the crowd and touches the fringes on his garment and Jesus immediately stops and asks, "Who touched me?" Notice the next sentence: "Everyone denied it." After all, no one was seeking to touch Jesus – they were just there for the show. Then the Lord spoke this to me: “People worship to get done with it – not to touch me. People pray to get me to touch them – not to touch me. People go to church to fulfill their religious duty – not to touch me.” Peter passed it off as an accidental or incidental contact (look at the crowd, Lord) – “No one did it on purpose!" Jesus said, "No, someone deliberately touched me.” Imagine that! Someone touched Jesus on purpose. From the moment this woman heard that He was to pass through her town, she had purposed in her heart to touch Him. When she left her house, she left with one thing in mind – to touch Jesus! When she saw the crowds (Mark reports that she came in the press behind) she would not let that stand in her way. She pressed in until she could touch Him. When was the last time you left home and headed to church on a Sunday morning with the intentions of touching Jesus? When was the last time you wanted to touch Him so bad that you were willing to press through in worship and prayer to do it? That's what's wrong with the modern church. That's why folks struggle to worship. That's why people fail to pray. That's why believers will let almost anything keep them out of church. There is so very little sense of desperation! We need a rebirth of spiritual desperation. When was the last time you were driven to seek Christ by a sense of desperation? BECAUSE when you touch Jesus, something happens! Healing virtue flows! Delivering power flows! Saving Grace flows! After all, Jesus is our only hope.
