Mark 5:24 – 29
24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
The British monarchy is a strange thing to Aussies, I think. They’re so far away, and they seem pretty irrelevant to the running of our day-to-day lives. So, when I think about a King, I don’t at all expect to see “a man of the people” like Jesus.
We saw in Mark 1:14-15 that Jesus declares the Kingdom of God – his kingdom – is at hand. Here we find this King of the Kingdom not in a palace, not even on a stage, but out in a crowd. And we witness, through the eyes of this poor suffering lady (can you imagine bleeding for TWELVE YEARS?!?) what kind of King he is: his very touch heals incurable injury! With one touch of the King, this woman is physically healed. Even the wonders of today’s modern medicine cannot heal that kind of bleeding with a touch; Mark unashamedly claims Jesus is doing something supernatural here! This woman can return to her community free from the shame, pain, smelliness, and ritual uncleanness that this bleeding would have brought about.
This is the kind of King we serve, friends. One who walks among his people, who is not beaten by sickness. He’s not cut off from us when we are frail, sick, hurting or isolated. Our sickness doesn’t mean Jesus’ stopped loving you and me.
Dear Father,
We are grateful that you are stronger than sickness, and so even sickness cannot cut us off from you and your love for us and your work through us. Please walk beside us, Lord, in our sickness and weakness, and help us not to fear, because you are stronger. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Danae Woodward – Creek Road
