Reaching out for the Fringe

“Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the fringe of His garment.  And immediately her flow of blood stopped.” Luke 8:43-44

Yesterday we saw how Jesus delayed His visit to the dying girl so today we will nudge our way into the crowd to see what caused the delay.  As we get closer, we can see Jesus standing still and looking around.  We can hear Him ask the crowd, ‘Who touched Me?’  Suddenly, we see this woman who is trembling with fear understanding she has been discovered.  With boldness for the second time she falls before the feet of Jesus and admits to the crowd why she had touched Him and the healing that immediately happened.  Heather Dixon author of Determined, quotes Swindoll regarding the bleeding woman.   ‘A continual flow of blood…rendered her perpetually unclean (Lev. 15:25-30).’ Heather Dixon expounds on that thought, ‘She understood the feeling of being shunned.  Twelve years of sorrow…but the need is Jesus…capable of healing all ailments: physical, mental and spiritual.  The only thing we bring to the table is our belief’ Determined, p. 94.

I began wondering how many of us have felt or presently feel tired of being sick…tired of a bleeding heart…tired of being shunned.  The boldness it takes to reach out to Jesus during our weakness moment is the faith we need to get the healing.  What does it look like to reach out to the fringe of Jesus?  For the grieving heart it is to continue to talk and seek Him when the miracle didn’t come.  For the terminally ill it is to keep approaching Jesus and believe Him for the healing.  For the lonely souls it is to surround yourself with Jesus instead of isolation.  For the terrified parent of a prodigal it is to keep believing in your child when we world has turned its back on them. 

Sometimes the very thing we need is the very thing from which we turn away because it feels too hard… too painful…too unattainable.  But what we must take comfort from is the same thing our bleeding woman discovered.  Jesus didn’t stop in His tracks to condemn her but to heal her.  She discovered what we can discover.  We are all to be bold…to keep reaching out for Jesus…to believe when our unbelief is our strongest…and to receive all that Jesus has to give us.  So be bold…approach Him…reach out and touch the fringe of Jesus.

'When you have reached the end of your rope...you'll find the hem of His garment' (Unknown author).