45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”
Over the years I have read this passage many times. The woman has been bleeding for twelve years and has gotten no relief. I can only imagine her suffering. I have some close relatives who suffer from chronic conditions and can relate to that day in, day out suffering. She hears of Jesus and just wants to slip into the crowd and touch Jesus because somehow she knows Jesus can help. She doesn’t want to become the object of a public miracle because she is embarrassed by her condition. So she slips through the crowd and touches with a relatively firm touch. It is not as I have pictured it, a finger on the outer edge of his clothing. The touch is firm enough that Jesus is certain a person touched him in a way other than simply brushing against him. The touch involved a healing. What is interesting is that Jesus would have known the woman was coming to touch and would have willed her healing. You can’t force God to do anything. When Jesus sensed her physical touch he healed her. Calling attention to the touch was His way of fully freeing her of her past. By allowing her to testify to the miracle all would know that she was healed and that the past was the past. If she had slipped back through the crowd no one would have known. They would have continued to treat her as the culture dictated. Those with chronic illnesses were considered outcasts, rejected by God, guilty of some hidden sin and being punished. By calling her out in the crowd Jesus frees her to live a life of fullness and giving her a fresh start. When we are willing to face our sin, then we can live in freedom. When we try to whitewash our past, then we are in bondage.
The Arnold Journey 