Luke 8:42-48 As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
"Who touched me?" Jesus asked.
When they all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you."
But Jesus said, "Someone touched me. I know that power has gone out from me.". . . "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."
This story is also told in Matthew 9. But Luke's gospel really sets the stage for what is about to happen. The point is made of how everyone was crowding around Jesus. But this one woman really touched Him in a way that nobody else did. And actually Matthew's gospel sheds even more light on what's going on with her. It tells us in verse 21, She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." She was intentional in what she did. She, as Jesus responded to, was touching Him in faith. She believed that touching the hem of His garment would release healing in her body. Of course we know that she touched His prayer shawl, the place symbolic of His prayers to and relationship to His Father. She touched that place of anointing, where heaven meets earth. Our need causes us to reach out; our faith enables us to touch; His power is released as we connect and receive. Faith, by the Bible's own definition: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). How does faith come? Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).
Hear it? Lord, what is it I need to hear?