Daily Devotion

 

 

This story laid hold on the heart and the imagination of the early Church.  It was believed that the woman was a Gentile from Caesarea Philippi.  Eusebius, the great Church historian (A.D. 300), relates how it was said that the woman had, at her own cost, erected a statue commemorating her cure in her native city.  It was said that the statue remained there until Julian, the Roman Emperor who tried to bring back the pagan gods, destroyed it and erected his own in place of it, only to see his own statue blasted by a thunderbolt from God.  

The shame of the woman was that ceremonially she was unclean (Leviticus 15:19-33).  Her issue of blood had cut her off from life. That was why she did not come openly to Jesus but crept up in the crowd; that was why at first, she was so embarrassed when Jesus asked who touched Him.

All devout Jews wore robes with fringes on them (Numbers 15:37-41; Deuteronomy 22:12).  The fringes ended in four tassels of white thread with a blue thread woven through them.  They were to remind the Jew every time he dressed that he was a man of God and committed to the keeping of God's laws.  Later, when it was dangerous to be a Jew, these tassels were worn on undergarments.  Nowadays they still exist on the talith or shawl that the Jew wears around his head and shoulders when he is at prayer.  However, at the time of Jesus, they were worn on the outer garment, and it was one of these the woman touched.

Luke the doctor is here in evidence again.  Mark says of the woman that she had spent her all on the doctors, and was no better, but rather grew worse (Mark 5:26). 

 

The lovely thing about this story is that from the moment Jesus was face to face with the woman, there seemed to be no one there, but Jesus, and the woman.  It happened in the middle of a crowd, but the crowd was forgotten, and Jesus spoke to that woman as if she was the only person in the world. She was a poor, unimportant sufferer, with a trouble that made her unclean and yet to that one unimportant person Jesus gave all of Himself.

 

We are very apt to attach labels to people, and to treat them according to their relative importance.  To Jesus, a person had none of these man-made labels.  He knew she was simply a human soul in need.  Love never thinks of people in terms of human importance.

Almost everybody would have regarded the woman in the crowd as totally unimportant. However, for Jesus, she was someone in need, and therefore He, as it were, withdrew from the crowd and gave Himself to her.  As it has been said, "God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love."

Life Application: If you were in this crowd would you take time to help this lady?  Or, would you just pass her by?  Our world today has many of people like her in need, and they need someone to minister to them.  Do you love them enough to take the time to do so?

Praise/Prayer:  Dear Father, I am so thankful that You included this story for us to see how You and Jesus treated people.  Thanks for the many examples You have given us in the Bible.  I believe You included these for Your children to learn how You and Jesus treated people.   I know how You have treated my family, and me.  Thank You for such love, kindness, and mercy.  Amen!