If You Will Believe

“Jesus said to her, ‘Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace.’” Luke 8:48

“Dear woman,” He said. More literally, Jesus called her “Daughter”. It is the only time in Scripture that Jesus addresses a woman this way. I do not know what she was called by others, or what names floated in her own thinking. But, I’m sure many of them were quite unaffectionate.

This dear woman had suffered for over twelve years with a bleeding problem. We can guess it was probably something related to being a female. Anyone with an issue of blood was considered unclean; whether it was during her period, or extended beyond it. All the days of the discharge of blood, she was untouchable. We can imagine this dear woman had not had even the touch of a friend’s hand upon her shoulder for the twelve years of her illness.

Though we no longer follow the Mosaic proscriptions that separate people if they have a particular discharge, we may still tend to make wide turns around those who are ill or chronically diseased. People have told me they do not visit patients in the hospital because they know those places are “full of germs.” And, let an ailment linger, like diabetes or fibromyalgia, and people can easily forget the struggle they endure. At a time when human touch and kindness is most needed and appreciated, we may find ourselves isolated like this dear woman.

Not only ostracized socially, she had also lost her entire life savings trying to get well. Having spent everything she had on doctors, she may have been living hand-to-mouth. Life at the poverty line leave little time for pleasure and enjoyment. The mind is filled with questions about the next meal, rent and what your family and neighbors must think about you. It is a sad commentary that the poor are often seen as users siphoning government resources for their own gain. Anyone who has had to make use of government help for food or existence knows it is a most humiliating way to live. She, was a “dear woman.”

So, suffering for 12 long years, she probably had lost most of her social life and had little dignity left at all. From the way she secretly tried to approach Jesus, it seems this may have piled up and resulted in a life full of shame for her. Her hopes rose at the news that Jesus was passing through, but the crowd presented an insurmountable barrier; she was not to be touched by anyone.

And yet, the dear woman touched Jesus; or at least the edge of His garment. How did she know? What was there that told her it would be alright to touch Him? For the last 12 years she knew her touch would make any unholy and that person could not participate in worship for at least seven days after touching her. What was there about Jesus that made her believe that, not only would He not be polluted, but that she would be healed?

The “flow” of power and influence was somehow reversed when it came to Jesus. In the Old ways, the infected person would infect anyone they touched. But, here is Jesus, uninfected and unaffected by the world. He is what the Bible calls “holy”. The moment she touched Him, He would become unholy. But not today. Not now. Not when it is Jesus Himself.

No, when she touched Jesus, nothing transferred from her to Him. Instead, Jesus says, “Who touched me?” because He felt power go out from Him. The dear woman finally, quietly, looks up at those fiercely compassionate eyes. She was shaking and fell trembling at His feet. The people listened as she explained why she touched Him, and that she was healed.

Jesus holds her gaze, and probably takes her hand to lift her on her feet. “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace.” I do not know what the reader may be suffering from, but you can be sure Jesus notices your touch. He came to heal the sick, to give sight to the blind, to break the bonds of oppression and set the captives free! He is not a heavy task master watching and waiting for you to break just one of a bookful of rules so He can punish and humiliate you! He came to heal!

And He is still here to heal. If you will believe, He will heal you of every empty moment. He will heal the pain of parents who paid you little attention. He will forgive your most shameful acts. He will set you free from the addictions that only now are beginning to take hold on your psyche. He will break the cruel words you have heard over and over that make you think you have failed.

The woman could have stayed inside her house and said, “I can’t get through that crowd, and He probably won’t notice me anyway. I’m so sick, and I’ll just make Him sick.” No, she got out of her house, braved the crowd and reached out to touch Him. And, in that huge crowd, in that moment, only Jesus and one dear woman existed in all the world. And her faith made her will.