The Flow of Power

She was still in pain. It wasn't just a normal foot injury or a scratch on the arm, but more like a constant pang that was ripping apart her insides. She had been bleeding for over twelve years and no one could figure out how to stop it. For a woman, bleeding like this was embarrassing enough, not to mention the fact that it was continuous. Most people could deal with a sickness, if it was just a short-term ailment; but, this was insurmountable.

"I'm not allowed to go out in public," she thought, knowing that she had been banned to solitude. She was considered "unclean" by the religious standards of her time, so touching anyone was an unthinkable act. No family. No children. No visitors. Just unclean.

"But, if I cover my face," she considered, "I can possibly worm my way through the crowd and go unnoticed." Wrapping her shawl over her head to cover her face, she silently slipped into the street and closed her door behind her. The crowd was in an uproar, because He was among them and He was always fascinating the people in town. She had also heard, through the gossip spoken loudly outside of her window, that He was leaving to go and help some religious leader in another town. "Now is my chance. He's leaving and I may never get another opportunity to get close."

She had heard the Law read aloud when she was younger and remembered the way that people spoke about the tassels. She had already considered who He was and believed that He was greater than those that wore the tasseled garments. So, it must be the same with His garment. "If I just touch His clothes," she thought, "I will be healed."

The crowd was thick, but she was more determined than ever. With a hope that she had never before expressed, she shoved her arms between the people at the back. These people were not going to keep her back. The doctors had failed her, the family she knew and loved was not allowed to see her, and she had been cast aside as unwanted material. With renewed vision, she set herself against the crowd that was pushing in around her.

She gasped when she saw Him. He didn't look very stately, but there was a power about Him that shocked her even at that distance. "It's Him," she thought. "It really is Him. I would recognize the Anointed One anywhere." And with a fire that mirrored His radiating power, she reached down and just caught the bottom part of His garment.

The power surged through her, as if it was a tidal wave capsizing a boat. She felt so small, so insignificant, and yet whole. She would have traded any of her meager possessions to feel that sense of completeness. Never before had she experienced peace like that washing over her in that moment.

And just as immediately as she had felt that tantalizing effect, she was filled with dread as He turned around and spoke, "Who touched my clothes?"

"Run," she thought. If He sees me, He will know that I was the one who stole His power. She was dazed and seemingly unaware that He was looking at her.

Quickly, one of his men asked, "You see the people crowding against you, and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'"

"How dare he say that to the Anointed One! If that man knew who He really was, he would not talk that way." But, it didn't matter, because He was staring into her eyes. She dropped her eyes as she fell to the ground at His feet. Knowing that she could not lie to this man, she blurt out, "I'm sorry Lord! I'm so, sorry! I shouldn't have done it, but I just longed to be made whole." At His request, she told Him her story, and why she had sought Him out.

His response was simple, but profound. "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." The power resurged throughout her entire body. She felt it again. She felt Him, felt His presence. With a look that calmed the storm within her heart, He reassured her that she was His and that He had made her whole again.

There was a commotion at the back of the crowd, which stole His gaze from her. "Your daughter is dead," someone said. "Why bother the teacher anymore?"

Hearing what they had said, He responded, "Don't be afraid; just believe."