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Luke 8:40-56 – Touching Jesus

Luke 8:40-56 – Touching Jesus

Last updated on: March 30, 2017 at 9:00 pm by Fr. Charles Erlandson

Luke 8:40-56 – Touching Jesus 2017-03-30T21:00:29-05:00 Fr. Charles Erlandson

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“Who touched Me?”

That’s the question Jesus asked the woman with the flow of blood. He asks a similar question of us today: “Who will touch Me?”

What happened when the woman with the flow of blood touched Jesus?

We should begin by examining her condition. Her flow of blood made her ritually unclean, which, at least in part, explains her shyness before the Lord. Her flow of blood had made her weak and lifeless, but, because of her faith it also made her keenly aware of her need for a Physician and Savior. She is therefore a picture of one who is poor in spirit because she’s poor in body and acknowledges not only her physical poverty but also her inability to provide for her own needs.

She is a picture of us. We are the ones who are unclean and are not worthy to come before the Lord. Her blood is symbolic of our life, which ebbs away every moment that we live without God. If we continue in this state of spiritual hemorrhaging, the end will be death. Her flow of blood has been symbolized by some to represent the flow of blood of the Old Testament sacrifices that could not atone for our sins. Her blood symbolizes as well the payment that must be made for our sins: our blood (for the life is in the blood) is the necessary payment for our sins, even though it, too, is an insufficient (because impure) sacrifice.

Like this woman, we spend our lives and our livelihood trying to find a cure from the wrong sources. Our disease is, of course, sin, and the end of that ailment is inevitably the death of separation from God. Many people incorrectly diagnose the disease as boredom or poverty or ignorance. Others do not believe themselves to be sick. Others still, like this woman, know they need something more in their lives but seek to fill their emptiness with the things of the world that only lead to addiction and greater hunger and emptiness.

This woman is in our lives today to give us faith and boldness to come before the Lord. Look at how He responds to one who is unclean and invisible and has nothing to offer Him. He responds to her hesitant faith with gentleness and compassion, giving us the confidence to also come before Him and touch Him.

What happens when she touches Him? Actually, she never directly touches Him but only touches His clothing. This is the way we often come to Him. We may not be able to come before Him directly but come through the various incarnated means by which He offers Himself to us in our lives. We may not have Pauline-Damascus Road visions but only dim intimations of our Lord.

But this is no matter. When we come to Him, even if only to touch His clothing, it is enough. To touch His clothing is to seek to be clothed with Him, and that is really what we should be after. And so in touching whatever part of Him she can grab hold of, she touches Him.

You, too, should grab hold of whatever part of Jesus Christ you can grab hold of today. Even if it is just the hem of His garment as it passes by, that will be enough.

What happens when she touches Him? Her flow of blood stops. The shedding of blood stops because He has made the payment for her sins, and through her faith His blood sacrifice is applied to her. Through faith, she is now clothed with Jesus Christ and she has put on the New Man.

And what is her response? She doesn’t claim to be His sister and walk beside Him as an equal. She doesn’t throw her arms around Him as if she is now His lover. She comes trembling, and falls down before Him, the posture we see whenever the saints see the angels or visions of the Lord.

In touching Jesus Christ, she sees Him for who He is, and so she trembles and falls down before Him. She knows that she has been healed, and the sheer magnitude of this fact and experience illuminate her being. So she trembles and falls down before the only one who could do such a thing in her life.

Finally, she declares the reason she has touched Him: she wanted to be healed. She is not afraid to come before Him publicly to touch Him, and she is not afraid to make a public proclamation of what He has done for her.

She is a picture of you. You are now the one who is supposed to seek to touch Jesus today. You are the one who must acknowledge your weaknesses and problems and come before the Great Physician for healing. You are the one who must seek by whatever means possible to go and find Jesus Christ today and to dare to touch Him that you may be healed.

When you touch Him, and when He clothes you with Himself, you should tremble before Him. You should fall down before Him. And you should tell everyone who will listen what He has done. Often this means sharing Jesus Christ with others who have not touched Him but need to. But often it means sharing Jesus Christ with those who have touched Him but need to touch Him again. Your faith, your testimony of what He has done for you, is more encouraging to the saints in your life than you will ever know (I know, because I’m one of them).

If we had churches filled with saints who sought Jesus and touched Him and shared their faith and healing with others, we would have churches that would be filled with life. For we would have churches that are clothed with Jesus Christ and tremble and fall down before Him.

Prayer: Father, I thank You for sending Your Son into the world and into my life. I ask that You would give me the faith to seek Him out and, when I have found Him, to touch Him today. I ask for Your healing in my life today, in the various ways that I need to be healed, especially for the healing of my sinful, thankless, sick heart. Amen.

Point for Meditation: What are the things in your life for which you need healing? Meditate on one of these and come boldly before the throne of grace today, seeking the Lord with all your heart. As you fulfill your resolution to touch Jesus Christ today, ask Him to heal you from the one thing for which you most desire healing.

Resolution: I resolve to find one way to touch Jesus today. You know some of the ways you can touch Him, but in case you have forgotten, some of them are: confession of sins, petitionary prayer, praise and adoration, thanksgiving, singing hymns and spiritual songs, having fellowship with the saints, sharing your life and experiences with the saints, seeking the wisdom of the saints, reading your Bible, worshiping God in the Church, forgiving those who sin against you, serving others in love, etc.

Jesus and Woman with Flow of Blood – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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