JESUS HEARS, KNOWS & SEES
We are living in an image-rich world where we see photos and videos of freak accidents, severe weather, health crisis, racially motivated attacks, and all kinds of real human stories uploaded on the internet as soon as they take place. “The woman with the issue of blood” could very well caption a photo of a sick woman who took great risks to get close to Jesus and was healed by Him.
But the image would not tell us the kinds of risks she took in approaching the Lord.
The risk of being seen
The woman who heard about Jesus had hoped to stay below the radar with a plan to sneak up behind Him, touch His cloak, and hope for the best. If healed, her effort and tenacity would be rewarded. If nothing changed in her condition, there would be no trace that she even sought help because she spoke to no one. In her mind, this self-help approach to Jesus would help her remain invisible. Just disappear without anyone knowing.
Some of us prize our privacy so much that disclosing any personal grievances to another person is as good as washing our dirty linen in public. Even if the matter is shared in confidence, we feel as though we are betraying ourselves by letting someone into our inner world. In its extreme, this kind of self-protection can lead to chronic isolation – the feeling of being alone in a crowd – that is counterintuitive to our survival and mental well-being.
The risk of being a woman
Back in Jesus’ time, a woman who was sick with any bodily discharge – hemorrhage, menstruation – was considered unclean and impure. Anyone and anything she used or touched would also be considered contaminated and made impure. Male religious leaders customarily avoided proximity and physical contact with women.
Imagine how tricky and taboo it was for the woman to approach Jesus directly and touch His garment. She, therefore, did it surreptitiously to protect Him from embarrassment and contamination, knowing the possibility of severe censure if caught. When Jesus called her out, she took great risks in stepping out of the crowd to identify herself.
In the same way, traditionally gendered roles can trap us in unnecessary shame and cause us to be closed off to outside help. These include stereotypical expectations that men are to be strong and emotionless, and women to be long-suffering nurturers who keep everything to themselves. We can deprive ourselves of the emotional support necessary for mental well-being.
Whether we’re a man or a woman, it’s important to practice vulnerability by asking others to pray for us, or allowing a trusted person into our lives.
The risk of being disappointed
This woman, like many of us, had trusted people: another healer, another friend, another employer, another pastor, another self-help guru - and had been disappointed. When we thought the best doctor would heal, our loved one succumbed to the illness. When we thought someone would be there for us, we were left to face a tough time all alone. When we thought the promise of a career change would improve our lives, we found less than rosy outcomes.
If our trust in people has not been rewarded, we will keep our guards up to avoid all future disappointments. We shift our focus from relationships to results. We begin to rely on ourselves and our ability to achieve better results and solutions. If the treatment from one doctor doesn’t work, we just go to another.
But for the woman who risked everything for Jesus, she experienced breakthroughs – physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
JESUS HEARS
Verse 4 of Psalm 139 says
‘Before a word is on my tongue, You, Lord, know it completely.’
To be sure, Jesus ‘heard’ the woman’s mental plan. When He called her out of the crowd, He was inviting her to a conversation with Him. It was a conversation that almost didn’t happen.
(Isolation) She thought, “If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed.”
(Invitation) Jesus responded: “Who touched my clothes?”
(Intimacy) She stepped forward and ‘told Him the whole truth.’
Conversations with God – we call it prayer – creates a connection with Him that removes the cover of silence, shame, and sinfulness in our lives. Just like the woman in the story, we can talk to Him and know that He hears us. There is no need to keep things all bottled up inside anymore.
JESUS KNOWS
Psalm 139:1-18 describes how intimately God knows each person.
To Him, we are not just a face in a crowd, not just a man or a woman, not just one in a population census: we are intimately known to Him even before we personally know Him.
At a time when people were clamoring to get close to Jesus, the woman thought she could stay out of sight, hidden in a sea of humanity, anonymity in the human race. She didn’t expect anyone to notice her presence, not in the least Jesus.
But Jesus knew she was there when He turned around to spot her. He responded to her covert act of faith by asking “Who touched my clothes?” Jesus knew her plight, her desperation.
We want you to know that even if you had said a silent prayer today, Jesus hears you and He knows you. You may feel overwhelmed by numerous setbacks coming down on you like an avalanche but be assured that He will respond to you.
JESUS SEES
The woman had seen many doctors who only saw her as a patient with an illness to be treated. Her tears and subjective experience were likely ignored, further dehumanizing her suffering. In His exchange with the woman, Jesus wanted her to have complete clarity, without any ambiguity, that He - not some magic power on His clothes - had healed her. He also wanted her to hear it straight from Him that her faith in Him had been effective in freeing her totally from suffering not only the physical illness but also all cultural and moral meanings ascribed to it. In essence, she would no longer be impure or unclean.
Pointedly, when Jesus called her ‘Daughter’, He plucked her out of obscurity and gave her a new identity. She was no longer a patient in a healthcare system as ‘the woman with the issue of blood’ but a child of God known to Him.
This story shows us that God is so secure in His love for us that He will find us in our hiddenness. We are hidden when we mute and mask our fears and emotions. We are hidden when we show no outward sign of our inner struggles and turmoil. We are hidden when we rely on a self-help approach to God and refuse to allow anyone into our inner world.
Verse 7 of Psalm 139 describes the futility of hiding from God: ‘Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?’
Recall this touching chorus of Mercy Saw Me:
Beautiful, that’s how Mercy saw me
Though I was broken and so lost, Mercy looked past all my faults
The justice of God saw what I had done, but Mercy saw me through the Son
Not what I was, but what I could be
That’s how Mercy saw me.
Let this be the start of a new conversation with Jesus.
