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Throngs
of people were following Jesus. The disciples stood
guard and watched as Jesus made His way through
the jostling crowd who came to see this man who worked miracles. There
were those who were lame, hanging onto canes
for support, the blind led by family, and the deaf whose eyes
shone with
hope that Jesus
would
cure their infirmities. Skeptics came in droves for they heard about the miracles Jesus was
performing and they wanted to see whether the stories were
actually true. If so, this man was
defying everything they believed in because He was promising and
doing things no one had ever done. Many had proclaimed these
miracles; the crippled walking away
and shouting with elation, the deaf now hearing the noise of the
crowds, and the blind on their knees thanking this man Jesus
with loud rejoicing, "Jesus healed
me! He really healed me!" Some reports said He even commanded
violent sea storms to come to a halt. But through all this, there
was something else that brought them here today; He claimed to
be the Son of God Who could give eternal life. Was this
man a heretic? The
skeptics shook their heads in doubt. So much to see and to
witness. The crowds around her roared insults as she elbowed her way, bit by bit coming closer, ignoring the screams and shouts of outrage but she took no notice for her eyes moved straight ahead and fixed on Jesus. He was her final hope. Trembling, she slide to a stop and kneeling, touched the hem of the robe Jesus was wearing. Immediately at this touch of the woman, Jesus stopped, turned, then asked, "Who touched me?" The people who stood further back from Jesus nudged each other whispering loudly. ...why has He stopped? What's going on?" and they craned their necks to see what was happening. The disciples walking with Jesus also stopped and turned around to see why people were becoming so loud and angry. But Jesus, Who had a different reason to see who was nearest to Him, again asked of the crowd, "Someone touched me! Who touched Me?". Peter, a disciple replied, "Master, all these people are crowding around you. They are pushing to get closer!" In the background, there was clamorous murmuring and speculation going on among the multitudes of people. They became silent when they heard Him persistently ask again, "Who touched my garment? I felt the power of healing go out of me!" The woman with the issue of blood stood shaking with fear at the sidelines, not knowing what to say or how to answer for she feared the consequences of her act. But, she reasoned, with the thousands of people rushing to Him, surely He cannot know it was me. But His eyes turned around immediately and He looked directly at her. She thought, "How can He know it was I who touched His robe? Will He be angry at me? Will He think that I have made Him unclean? Should I tell Him the truth why I did this? Yes, I will tell Him that for 12 years I have been afflicted with this issue of blood and maybe He will forgive me. I will ask for His mercy. This is my only chance. I must tell Him. I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!" With bowed head, she crawled on her knees to Jesus and humbly confessed, "It was I who touched your garment, my Lord." With compassion and love, Jesus looked down at her as she humbly knelt on the ground before Him. He spoke kindly, “Take heart, my daughter,” He said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment. (See Matthew 9: 20-22) Jesus had spoken with heavenly authority over death, disease and all aspects of life. When St. Matthew writes about the woman who touched the robe of Jesus, he is not solely writing just about this woman, for she is not the central figure in this encounter with Jesus. St. Matthew was making known the great power and magnitude of Christ, the Son of the living God. It declares with authority of Who Jesus is and the eternal power He possesses. The mighty strength of God was in Jesus to heal, to restore, to make whole, and ultimately take on the sins of the entire world. This was His mission. And this was His gift to all humanity if they accepted it through faith in Him. In Isaiah 53: 2-7, the Old Testament tells of the coming of Jesus: " a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering...." He died to put our punishments of sin on Himself. This was His sacrifice to us. Not only has He paid for our sins, He is still with us, telling and showing us that even now we too, can "touch the hem of His garment" through faith and prayer and be healed if it is the will of the Father. With trust we can watch His mercy descend upon all of us who have faith in Him. We, who believe, know that He sits at the right hand of God and He takes all our sufferings directly to our Heavenly Father. Only Jesus can make this possible. John 14:13 reads: "And I will do whatever you ask in My Name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son". There is a story about a large jetliner carrying many passengers to their destination when their pilot warned that there would be heavy turbulence ahead and everyone must fasten their seat belts. The plane went up and down, shaking and losing altitude. Everyone was frantic and frightened except a young girl, who had her arms quietly folded in her lap and sat directly behind the cockpit. Among the passengers was a priest who tried to calm everybody by leading them in prayer. Even those who did not believe in God were willing to pray. When the storm settled, the priest who was seated across the aisle from the girl leaned over and asked quietly, “I’m impressed by your calmness. Everybody else on the plane was really upset, but you sat there with no fear. Weren't you afraid?” The girl replied, “I was not afraid because my Heavenly Father is flying this plane and when I prayed to Him He calmed my heart and let me know I would make it home safely if I had faith." The priest gently smiled and nodded knowingly. There are many kinds of storms that buffet us in our lives and these storms can darken our skies and throw our plane into uncontrollable movement. We have had times when we felt we were being tossed about with no relief. But if we remember that our Father is the Pilot of our "plane", if we have faith that Jesus is in total control of ALL things, we, like the girl in the story, can rest on His assurances. With Jesus as our advocate, we have nothing to fear.
Isn't
it time to
cash in on your own faith? How do we do this? We keep moving
ahead, trusting
always in the promises Christ made to us who believe in Him.
Philippians 4: 6-7
tells, "Don't worry about anything; instead pray about
everything. Tell God what you have need of, and thank Him for
all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace,
which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will
guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
You may also enjoy this version:
"Faith is the substance of
things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen."
!
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| THE HEALING |
