crumbs96

 

Crumbs 96

A Troubled Woman

Scripture Mark 5:21-34 Niv 21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Crumbs

Inevitably our Lord is centre stage but the other players in this drama described in the latter half of chapter 5 are women. Women played an important part in the life of Jesus. Our Lord faces two sad situations. The official Jaius was important and his need was urgent. His little girl is dying. Jesus goes with Jairus but then a hitch .

A woman touches Jesus’ clothing. He could have told the woman He would deal with her later. He did not. He could have told her He did not deal with this sort of thing. He did not. Her life must have been wretched. She might have kept her condition secret. It drained her energy, her cash and the consolations of her faith( her condition made ceremonially unclean. Leviticus 15:19 ). In desperation she turns to Christ . May be she touched one of the tassels on his clothing (Numbers 15: 38-40 ) As the Lord is touched by wrong and the wrong is put right.

Why did He call her out? To every healing there is a spiritual dimension. To every healed soul there is a pastoral need. After many of healings Jesus deals pastorally with the victim and there is so much we could learn form Him in every case. In his words to her we learn that trusting Christ brings freedom and peace.

Questions

1. What do we learn on how to deal with people from Jesus ?

2. What do we learn about priorities from Jesus ?

3. What do we learn of the scope of Christ’s love and His power?