Do you feel unloved, empty, drained of strength and hope?
Does it seem like nothing works no matter how hard you try? Like you have been abandoned in your suffering?
You are not the only one. Over 2,000 years ago, there was a woman just like you.
The Gospels record the story of a woman who had been hemorrhaging blood for 12 years. Due to her condition, Jewish law considered her unclean, condemning her to a daily state of social and religious isolation. “She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.” (Mark 5:26)
This woman suffered daily for more than a decade. She tried countless treatments, but none worked. Now she was financially broke and not only was she not better, she was getting worse.
Can you imagine?
Maybe you can.
Maybe your condition is not physical bleeding. It might be a hemorrhaging of hope and self-worth after the loss of a relationship, a marriage, loved ones, or a dream.
You have tried everything—new relationships, new jobs, self-help schemes—but nothing works.
You are broke and broken.
When you are suffering, it often sounds trite to hear: “Turn to Jesus and he will help you.” But that’s what this woman did.
Pushing through a crowd, she came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak. What happened next? “Immediately her bleeding stopped” (Luke 8:44).
Jesus sensed that power had gone out from him and he turned to ask who in the crowd touched him. No one spoke up. Finally the woman admitted, trembling, that it was her. Jesus looked at her and the first word he said was not “Who?” or “Why?”
It was: “Daughter…”
All three Gospel accounts—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—record it this way.
The woman must have been afraid, sensing she had encountered the Divine and was not worthy. But Jesus didn’t question or condemn her. He addressed her as his child.
“Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace,” Jesus said.
Can you imagine her relief? Not only was she finally healed, but God-on-Earth called her “Daughter.”
Maybe at that moment, she realized she had been God’s child all along, all through the dark, depressing, daily suffering and futile attempts to get better. Her constant discouragement and failure probably made her suspect that she was cursed or that God had abandoned her. But that was never the case.
Who knows why the hemorrhaging woman suffered in the first place, or for so long? In the end, it didn’t matter. She was always God’s daughter through it all and when she reached out to Jesus, she was healed.
Matthew and Luke say that she touched the tassel or “fringe” of Jesus’s cloak.
Just a small brush against the edge of his garment. That’s all it took.
That’s all it takes for us if we’re willing to try our faith in him.
What does touching the fringe of his garment look like for us? Maybe it’s saying a prayer, even if we don’t feel like he’s listening. Or reaching out to a friend or minister for help. Maybe it’s reading a few Bible verses. As Mother Teresa said: “God doesn't require us to succeed, he only requires that you try.”
Wherever you are, whatever you’re going through, know that’s all it takes. The slightest touch of his garment with the smallest amount of faith you can muster. And like Jesus told the hemorrhaging woman, he will tell you: “Child, your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
It may not be an instantaneous healing like it was for the bleeding woman. But it will still be the start of a miracle, one that allows you stop bleeding and go forth in peace.
Like the hemorrhaging woman, we all feel at times like we are on the fringes of life and society. But the fringe of his garment is waiting for us to touch. Just reach out.
