The hem is Him

Two times this weekend I was in a church service where the woman with the issue of blood was spoken of. What I have learned this weekend was from the message which was brought or written in the Word wasn't spoken from the mouth of a man, but was heard loudly as it whispered within.

Let's first begin by taking a look at who this woman was and what she represented.  All the word tells us is that she was a woman with "an issue of blood for 12 years". 

What this issue was we are not told. Did she have an open wound that had a constant flow of blood to it? Was it something similar to her cycle where there was a constant discharge? We don't have that answer but what we do know is that she had spent her life seeing doctor after doctor yet finding no relief. She had given everything she had to these men for an answer but no matter what she did or what she took, the situation remained unchanged. 

Can you imagine the isolation and loneliness that this woman went through? Her condition made her unclean according to the law. Day after day having to go through the ritualistic cleansing yet never being cleansed, having to announce "Unclean" as she walked down the dusty paths as the alienation grew when folks parted like the Red Sea. She grew increasingly aware of the stolen glances and whispered words as she walked by.

Then came that fateful day when Jesus came to town. The crowd gathered around Him, pressing from all sides. In my mind I envision it as cattle going through a shute: a wide open area where the gathering began and then squeezing in tighter and tighter until the cattle are bumping into each other, some trying to jump over another for a better position in the pack. Everywhere you looked there was a person trying to get to Jesus, to be the one by His side. But what you couldn't see as the crowd thronged around Him was the act of pure desperation, knowing that something had to change.

Where she started from or how she ended up on the ground at His feet we are not told. Had she started at the back of the crowd trying to press her way forward? In the melee, had she lost her footing and fallen to her knees and it was easier to stay down and move instead of trying to stand back up? These answers we don't know and won't this side of Heaven. What we do know is that she made her way, on hands and knees, possibly her stomach even slithering through a sea of feet and legs because she just had to get to Him. The fact that a grown woman was able to do this WITHOUT BEING TRAMPLED TO DEATH,  was a miracle in and of itself. After all, how many of these types of trampling deaths have taken place over the centuries: running with the bulls in Pamplona, mass casualty tramplings as people try to flee burning buildings or other tragic events, crush another body as they rush to leave in the attempt to preserve themselves. 

Yet here she was, already "unclean" according to the law, ostracized and cast out, crawling with everything she had just to get the hem. She wasn't looking for the extravagant or for Him to call her by name. The only thing she knew was that a touch from Him would change everything. Broken and beaten within her mind, she stretched forth her hand looking for what, a sign? From the dust and the dirt as her feeble hand raised, a flicker of hope "Could this be the day?" Then in an instant, Jesus voice rang out, " Who has touched me for virtue went out?"

Sheepishly she slid back into the shadows to hide as the voices around continued to rise. Surely He's just joshing, there's no way He felt me. It was just a quick grab and no one could even see. But He knew within Himself someone had reached out in faith, needing a miracle full of mercy and grace. As the crowd whispered and murmered, she slowly stepped forward in shame. The once pressed crowd now scattered the scene. "How dare she come around here, she knows she's unclean. Does she not realize the problems she's caused, for now we must adhere to the commands and laws." Through whispers and stares, she quietly now came, eyes looking down as her head hung in shame. But Jesus didn't see her issue or shame, He saw a woman who had faith for her need. She had given all that she had for the medicine of men when all of the time she needed the hem of Him.