WHAT'S YOUR ISSUE?

I recently heard someone talking about the teaching of the sick woman in Mark 5. You've heard it before, but let me remind you of the passage:

21 Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake, where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. 22 Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, 23 pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.” 24 Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him. 25 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. 28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. 30 Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?” 31 His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

After I got home that night, I opened my Bible to this passage and began to read it again. I had a discussion with a local pastor prior to this where we talked about the Blood of Christ - it's power, it's meaning, and the grace behind it. Still contemplating this discussion and this passage, God began to reveal something to me.

As I read it, I was struck amazed all over again with the immediate healing power. The woman in this passage suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. The KJV states it as an "issue of blood". I can't image what this woman was suffering from. I can't image the physical issue, let alone the other issues that surrounded that physical one. She had been to many doctors. Seeking an answer to her condition, something to make her well. She spent everything she had. According the Levitical Code, she would have been unclean for those twelve years. That label meant that she couldn't worship in the Temple and isolated her from society. Anyone who touched her became unclean for the rest of the day.

Sick. Ashamed. Alone. Broke. Concerned.

That was her heart. She had more than an issue of blood. That issue carried with it a label that defined her by society's standards. She was more than her "issue of blood". She had a condition of the heart, a condition, of the mind, a condition that only Jesus could heal. Her faith… wow… amazes me. "If I can just touch his robe…" She believed with everything in her that healing lied within Him. So much that just a touch would heal her. Just a touch. No miraculous prayer, no laying on of hands, nothing extreme. Just a touch.

Jesus was on his way to Jairus's house, whose daughter was dying. His request was for Him to come and lay hands so she would live. His compassion lead him on a journey to his house. On the way, the instant she touched Him, he knew. He knew that power had left him… healing power. A trembling woman emerged from the crowd to confess that indeed she had touched His robe. His confirmation speaks volumes to me…

“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

We all have issues of blood. Not like this woman… but we all have matters of the heart, the soul, and the mind that simply need the Master's healing touch. Issues of life… divorce, drug addiction, a sick child, parent or spouse, a death of a friend, domestic abuse, bad decisions, a child's wayward actions or attitude, a job loss, etc. Regardless of the title, each of these can leave us financially destroyed, emotionally bankrupt, isolated, and seeking answers. What we want to hear is "Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” There are times, in all honesty, don't we just want the situation to end? It's not that easy though. This woman had faith. FAITH. Hebrews 11:1 says "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Faith in WHO God was and what He would do for her. She was healed immediately. When He spoke to her, he didn't just say your condition is healed. He told her that her suffering was over. Suffering… ended.

How I've needed to hear this in my own heart. There are days I struggle with the labels given to me by society. Some of the decisions I've made in my life haven't been the best or God honoring. I've lived with the labels that society imposes. I, like this woman, have an issue of blood - an issue only the Blood of Jesus can handle. The question lies in whether I can have faith in the promises of His word. God is who He says He is and will do accordingly in my life and for His glory. Healing isn't just for the physical. He seeks to heal every part of my life; mind, body, and soul.

I will continue to seek Him, in faith, knowing that the same power and Spirit that raised Christ from the dead gives me life and healing as well. (Romans 8:11)