Who Would You Have Identified With The Most?

Who Would You Have Identified with The Most?

This event occurred after Jairus asked Jesus to attend to and heal his dying daughter back home. At first Jesus headed to the home but… interruptions blocked Jesus from proceeding toward where the daughter lay dying. And it seems like the Interruptions are blocking Jesus from completing God’s plan for him, but…

I’m wondering who you would identify with most…..

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” (Mark 5:24-34)

In this story, we most often focus on the woman with the issue of blood, but Jesus’s question is also used by God in the hearts of others at the scene.

The bystanders.

I am a person who easily feels guilty and takes on responsibilities not mine. If I’d heard Jesus’s question, I would raise my hand and say, “Jesus, don’t look at me. It’s not my fault. I’ll help you find the guilty party.” My response indicates I think of God as someone who is always looking for someone to blame. He’s a punitive God, and I believed that lie early in life.

Jairus.

This is the father who has asked Jesus to heal his dying daughter, and they are headed to his home. The father is most likely impatient and tense, thinking, Who cares who touched your clothes? Let’s hurry. My daughter might be dead soon. And I hope whoever touched you hasn’t taken all your power. Jesus halted the parade to reveal the father’s belief of a weak and limited God. Jesus’s purpose is not to create fear but to increase the tense man’s faith by seeing the woman healed.

When the messenger arrives announcing the little girl’s death, does hopelessness or faith engulf the worried father? Is he angry toward the unclean woman? After all, if Jesus is now unclean from being touched by an unclean woman, he can’t use God’s healing power. Yet Jesus is glorified even more by raising the daughter from the dead, not just healing her. No longer does this grateful daddy think God is weak. He is convinced Jesus is both powerful and loving.

The disciples.

The disciples hear Jesus’s question and respond with fear. Like me, they are afraid of being blamed. They respond, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ “ (5:31). They are Jesus’s bodyguards. Jesus’s question draws out their belief the very Son of God can’t protect himself.

The woman with the issue of blood.

She takes right responsibility for her action. She responds to Jesus’s inquiry, which is all Jesus wants. If she had slunk away, guilty but healed, he couldn’t be glorified. She rightly speaks truth, and Jesus’s glorious power and love are again revealed.

Like Jairus, so often we are aware of something God is doing in someone else and make it all about ourselves. Our own insecurities, self-condemnation, or pattern of rescuing intercept God’s work. As a result, we might not believe the truth about God’s intentions and nature.

At the same time, God is powerful as he “multi-tasks.” Jesus’s simple question is used by the Holy Spirit to reveal the hearts of many. Let us pay attention to the questions he asks of those around us, but wisely only take on the ones God intends for us.

• When does God most often seem weak and not powerful at all?
• Do you identify with any of the people in this story? And what would be your response to Jesus’s question?

Mighty God, I praise you because your power is limitless. Thank you for working in many lives at once. I don’t have to wait in line.