Now may God himself, the God of peace, make you pure, belonging only to him. May your whole self—spirit, soul, and body—be kept safe and without fault when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. (1 Thessalonians 5:23, NCV)
Do you need a miracle of healing? Do you question, does Jesus still heal today? The desire of Jesus is that your spirit, soul and body be pure and whole. Then why do we get sick? For the same reason we still sin. We live in a fallen world, and the Kingdom of Heaven is a Coming Kingdom - but there is a day coming when all things will be made new: ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever’ (Revelation 21:4, NLT). Jesus still heals today! I myself have experienced two miraculous healings from cancer, but my wife experienced her healing through passing from life into eternity.
‘A woman was in the crowd who had been bleeding for twelve years, but no one was able to heal her. She came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his coat, and instantly her bleeding stopped. Then Jesus said, “Who touched me?”
When all the people said they had not touched him, Peter said, “Master, the people are all around you and are pushing against you.”
But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me, because I felt power go out from me.” When the woman saw she could not hide, she came forward, shaking, and fell down before Jesus. While all the people listened, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace.”’ Luke 8:43-48, NLT)
For those of us who know the Bible this story seems so simple but yet I feel that it touches all of our lives. I want you to understand why these stories were written. Firstly, these were actual incidents that happen in the life of Jesus, they were not parables or illustrations: they were things that actually happened. What occurred here was totally unexpected because Jesus was on his way to do something else – the ruler of the synagogue in that town had come to Jesus to ask Him to heal his daughter. Yet somehow in the middle of the journey, this desperate woman intrudes into the scene. You can understand her position, lonely, desperate for a miracle. It is not so different today, people tired of the formality of religion, of the moral uncertainty created by the state, of the inexorable slide into moral chaos, of their own hopelessness, need Jesus.
I can well understand this story in Luke’s Gospel, the people in the whole area all knew that Jesus could work miracles, so wherever Jesus went, the ordinary people crowded around Him. They were all pressing up against Him, so He had no peace. But while He was trying to go to heal Jairus’ daughter, one woman forcefully pushed her way through the crowd and touched Jesus.
Jesus knew that somebody had touched Him and immediately asked who touched Me? One disciple questioned, how can You ask who touched You, hundreds of people are surrounding You. But Jesus recognised there was something unusual with this woman, her touch was different.
So many people, but only one attracted the personal attention of Jesus. The problem she had was quite common, extra menstrual bleeding which the doctors could not stop even after twelve years. She had a severe problem, it was a difficult time for her, and she had spent everything she had to pay the doctors, yet they could not stop the bleeding. She had nothing left and still she was not healed, in fact the Bible says the doctors made the condition worse. But she was determined to get healed! So when she found that Jesus was in town she went to Him to be healed.
We know the woman was healed but there was something significant which made her different to all the others in the crowd and even stopped Jesus in His other mission. What she did made Jesus stand still and give her what she desired.
She was so determined to get to Jesus, nothing was going to stop her – no man, no crowd, she knew she had to get to Jesus. She was determined to do it and she did it. She was going to touch Him in a way Jesus would not know. She was not going to touch His arm, or ask Him to put His hand on her – she was not going to attract His attention. She was going to come secretly and quickly. But she knew one thing: if she touched the bottom of His coat she would be healed.
I want to tell you something very important and it’s based on all my years of experience with God. Everybody can be healed – believer or not – but it depends on you.
I want you to understand that God knows what is in your heart. It’s not just the words. Amongst all the people around Jesus, there were those who were looking for every excuse to trap and destroy Him, while others wanted Him arrested and put in prison. But there was one woman who was different, she said, “I know if I can get through this crowd and touch Him. If I move quietly He will not know who I am, but if I can just touch His coat, He will not know who I am, but I will be healed”.
There was fear in her, fear of recognition, perhaps even fear of Jesus. Who was she, was she a public figure, or was her problem a result of some sin? Or was it simply years of rejection, perhaps by her husband, or her friends? Certainly there was not only pain in her body but also in her heart. The last thing she wanted was recognition, but that is exactly what she received and it changed her life – not only healing but recognition, forgiveness and a transformation, complete wholeness!
Do you understand why the story of this woman is told? She was so determined: she was tried of being sick, why should she live like this? She wanted to be rid of that sickness! She came into that crowd determined to fight her way through! You have to come to Jesus like that. If you do you’ll get what you ask for.