What
Is Your Issue?
Reflections
on Luke 8:43-48
I cannot imagine
what it would be like to walk in the crowds Jesus walked. People everywhere are
leaning and constantly trying to touch him. In Luke 8:43-48 we see one such moment. At this point in the gospel of Luke Jesus has a reputation and word of his miracles
were spreading like wildfire. From towns to small villages the word was told of
all the things Jesus was doing. As you read this Bible passage you see the
woman with her issue of blood. She has been suffering for 12 years. Her efforts
to get better have taken her to spend all of her money on doctors and nothing
has worked. In desperation she tries the one thing she sees as her last hope
for healing. She feels she is not worthy to meet Jesus face to face and ask for
help. All she has left is faith to hope for a miracle. Her plan is to mingle in
the crowd and get close enough to touch Jesus’ robe without being noticed.
Wow! It worked she
is healed and she knows it and she tries to slip away before anyone notices.
She figures she can blend into the crowd and go home. Except for one little
detail she did not account for, Jesus felt the power leave Him and heal her. At
this point Jesus makes a public pronouncement, that on the surface sounds like
a “duh” moment. It is obvious that people are near to Jesus and touching him.
His question was about something else besides touch: He felt a special touch of
someone stepping out in faith and in dire need.
Scripture does not
speak of why or if others who were there got healing from touching Jesus.
Perhaps the crowd was there just to be there, to say “I was there when”. Maybe
they wanted to brag that they saw Jesus to their friends and not out of a dire deep
need like the woman with the issue of blood. How many were curious about Jesus
and how few reach out to touch Him? So many people claim to know about Jesus yet
their lives show no evidence of change. We are more impressed with how many
people show up to see Jesus than with the one who reaches out and touches Him.
Every one of us has
an issue of blood like this woman so long ago. Your issue might not be of blood
parse. Your issue might be anger at someone or something that happened to you.
You could have an alcohol issue; drinking so much that you just cannot function
without it. For others it may be drugs that you use to escape your reality of
loneliness, low-self esteem or abandonment. Your issue of blood may well be
your mouth; you gossip so much you don’t know what is true anymore. You talk
about others behind their backs instead of face to face and try to solve your differences.
Whatever your blood issue is, bullying, porn, lies, etc.; you need to make a decision.
Do you try to pay others to fix it or do you reach out and touch Jesus for
healing and peace?
Jesus knew who had touched
Him, but he also wanted to let everyone know what really made her whole. It
wasn’t that she touched his robe, it was her faith in Jesus the healed her.
Jesus wanted all of those present to know this. That is why he made it so
public by asking “who touched me?” By her coming forward Jesus has the
opportunity to give her peace and validate her decision to step out in faith.
My questions for you are: What are your issues and what are you willing to do
about it?
RH
