Touching Jesus

This is probable the most well known Scripture in the Bible. It is one of the passages in the Bible that are more used by preachers, evangelist and teachers than other passages. And yet through all these years nobody knows what this woman’s name is. Nobody knows what she looked like. Nobody knows if she was tall or maybe short. No one knows the color of her hair or eyes. She is only known as the woman with the issue of blood.

We all know this miracle very well, but the question I want to put to you today is, was the issue of blood really the only issue in her life?

We must remember that throughout the whole Scripture, the Church of God is referred to as a woman. We must also remember that the Word of God teaches us that life is in the blood of a person or animal. For this reason God forbid the people of Israel to eat or drink the blood of any animal. That is also the reason why Jesus shed His blood, for by giving His blood he gave His life.

With this in mind lets for a moment spiritualize this passage. If this woman then represent the church of God, then it means that the church is slowly bleeding to death and the only hope for the church is to touch Jesus again. For this same manner we can put ourselves in the place of this woman. There are people here today, and in this community of ours, that are bleeding to death for several years now. There is only one hope and one answer to them – touching Jesus again. Church of God let us become once again a touching church – touching Jesus and touching others.

I have said that this woman not only has an issue of blood. You see, today we can place ourselves in the pace of this woman because all the issues she had is also the issue we have.

1. A physical issue.

The issue of blood was a physical issue. For twelve years this woman was sick. Every day, every hour, every second she was aware of her physical condition. We as men will never know what this woman went through. All the woman in this congregation will have an idea because you can relate more to an issue of blood than we.

Maybe you are sitting here today also with a physical condition. Maybe it is also for more than a year now. The worst part is that the Bible say that this woman’s condition grew worse and worse every day. Just imagine being sick for twelve years and every year, every month, every week, hour, minute and second your condition are becoming worse and worse. Imagine the feeling of hopelessness and desperation. I believe this woman was at a point were she was ready to give up. She was ready just to sit and die. Not even all the physicians could help her. She was at a point of no return. Maybe you are felling the same way. For weeks, months or even years you are sick and have a physical condition. I have good news today. Touching Jesus is all that matters and your life will never be the same again.

You must understand something important here. God is never late. I believe in a Divine appointment. You must realize that we are living in the natural and the natural is controlled by time. God lives in the supernatural where there is no such thing as time. The Bible teaches us that for God one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day – 2 Peter 3:8. God has a perfect time and the impossible becomes possible when God’s perfect time meets our natural time.

For 12 years this woman prayed, maybe even believed God, has done all she could do, but her divine appointment was on the way. Remember God does not work within our time frame. All that we must do is keep on believing and wait upon the Lord for He has a divine appointment for us in store.

2. A financial issue.

Secondly she had a financial issue. Verse 26.

The medical art in Judea in that age was in a very crude condition. Lightfoot gives, from the Rabbinical books, the remedy for a female hemorrhage: ``Let them dig seven ditches, in which let them burn some cuttings of vines under four years old. Let her take in her hand a cup of wine; let them lead her away from this ditch and make her sit over that. Let them remove her from that and sit her over another. At each removal you must say to her, "Arise for thy flux".’’ This is an illustration of what this woman suffered. The tragedy of it was that she "was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse" Her money was gone, her disease was gaining on her, her one chance came now with Jesus.