Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Leviticus 19-21
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Mark 5:30-34
Jesus: Who just touched My robe?
His disciples broke the uneasy silence.
Disciples: Jesus, the crowd is so thick that everyone is touching You. Why do You ask, “Who touched Me?”
But Jesus waited. His gaze swept across the crowd to see who had done it. At last, the woman—knowing He was talking about her—pushed forward and dropped to her knees. She was shaking with fear and amazement.
Woman: I touched You.
Then she told Him the reason why. Jesus listened to her story.
Jesus: Daughter, you are well because you dared to believe. Go in peace, and stay well.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
This is another one of those stories that the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all record. I’ve used the story to talk about the determination of the woman who sought Jesus in that great throng of people that crowded around Him as He tried to walk through the street. Everyone wanted to get close to Him and this woman, in her weakened condition, had to push through all those people. She had to jostle her way through what could probably look like Times Square on New Years’ Eve on a smaller scale.
It took a lot of determination to push through that throng to get to Jesus and touch His cloak. She probably got a lot of those dirty looks you’ve seen in the grocery store when someone tries to cut in line. She probably got pushed around and maybe even knocked down a few times as she tried to squeeze through a tiny opening between two people only to find it close with someone’s elbow in her ribs. It took a lot of tenacity and determination for her to get to the Master. But I don’t want to talk about her determination.
I’ve also talked about her faith in the past. To think, this woman had enough faith that just the touch of the Master’s cloak was enough to heal her. She knew that all she needed to do was get close enough to get a finger on the hem of His garment and all would be well. That simple touch would do what all the physicians she had seen could not do. It would cost her no money, she just needed to believe. But I don’t want to talk about this woman’s faith as great as it was.
What struck me today as I read this story again was that in that whole throng of people pushing and shoving and jostling Him around as He made His way through the city streets, Jesus felt the brush of a single hand against the cloth or the tassles at the very bottom of His cloak. That’s pretty extraordinary to me. I don’t know anyone that can do that. I’m not sure I know very many people, if any, that can discern when someone touches the hem of their cloak or coat hanging on them when no one else is touching them. Just a touch by a passerby as you walk down the street is almost indiscernable. But now try to figure out a new touch among the dozens of hands and bodies that are pressed against you…Wow!
That’s important to this story. It tells me that God knows what I’m doing when no one else does. It tells me my prayers and my desires and my hurts and my questions are not lost in the cacophony of the crowd around me. Even in the noise of the world that seems to drown out my voice to others, God hears. The world may not care about what happens to me and in fact, might press me down in their rush to move along the street of life, but God cares. He won’t let me get lost in the crowd. He knows my touch among the throng of people that crowd around and might try to still my voice.
That’s one of the things I like most about this story. God hears me, even when others don’t. He listens, even when others try to crowd me out. He responds to my touch, even though it is so brief and so gentle that most would never notice a touch has been made. The story tells me God really cares about us individually. He picks us out of the crowd and meets us where we are and meets our specific individual need, not what the roar of the crowd suggests.
It’s easy to get caught up in the crowd. You’ve probably been in some of those at some sports event. The team scores and the crowd goes wild and you get caught up in the excitement. Or picture the crowd as it leaves the stadium. If you want to turn left from the center of the crowd moving forward, it’s an almost impossible task. You get caught up in the crowd and the ushers, the guards, those that try to keep order among the throng of people keep everyone moving in that same direction. One person trying to go the other way is quickly turned around to move along with the crowd. But not with Jesus. He takes us where we need to go. He does what we need, not what the crowd needs. He cares for us just that much. With Him, we are not one in a crowd, we are one. Singularly important to Him in His kingdom.
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