Take a few deep breaths to center your heart and your mind as you prepare to meet with God.

Meditation on God

Hebrews 11:22-23 says, "let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."

Isaiah 43:1 says, "Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine."

Take a moment and ask yourself this question: Do you feel known by Jesus?

Take a moment to let the loving-kindness of the One who calls you by name wash over you.

Teaching

A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?” His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” (Mark 5:25-34)

Layered powerfully in the middle of a poignant Markan Sandwich, we find Jesus' encounter with a woman who had endured 12 years of suffering from a discharge of blood. Her condition rendered her unclean under Jewish law, ostracizing her nearly completely from society.  The doctors of her day had attempted to heal her, but she only grew worse. In addition, their efforts had left her penniless.  Her life had become one of brokenness, isolation, and shame.

But Jesus. She had heard of His miracles, His kindness, His power. And she was willing to risk everything for even the briefest encounter with Him.  Mark 5:28, "For she said, "If I touch even His garments, I will be made well."  Emboldened by her faith and acting in the desperation that immense suffering often brings, she slipped quietly into the crowd surrounding Jesus. 

In the surge of the crowd, she reached desperately for the hem of the Savior's garment. She felt it instantly.  He had done it. She was immediately healed from the disease that had tortured her for 12 long years. The slightest of contact, a mere second of proximity had made her whole.

But Jesus. He loved her too much to simply heal her sickness. The Creator of the universe wanted her heart. 

In her shame, she had stopped just short of a personal encounter. She had come before him quietly and anonymously, albeit in great faith.  She knew under the law of Moses that her touch would make Him unclean, too.  Jesus stopped. He turned to the crowd and asked, "Who touched my garments?"

The nameless woman knew she was found out. Of course, Jesus knew it was her who had taken His power without asking. She could hide no more.  Mark 5:33, "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."

Fearing His warranted rebuke, she waited. She cowered as her sins were laid bare before Him.  Jesus, full of grace and truth, said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease,"  

In His acknowledgment of her, Jesus healed not only her physical body, but he fully redeemed her soul. He called her His own. His love overwhelmed the trauma separation had created. He was then and He is now, our healer, our advocate, our redemption and, to be truthful, our only hope. Only Jesus.

Examination

Take a moment and ask yourself this question: What in your life feels shameful, isolating, or broken today?

From your own shame, isolation, or brokenness, picture yourself reaching boldly for the hem of His garments. Trust that your broken places are not too much for His healing.

Memory Verse

Find a way to take Isaiah 43:1 with you today, which says:

"....Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name. You are mine." Is. 43:1 ESV