Grab His Cloak

"At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, 'Who touched my clothes?'" - Mark 5:30

Among a crowd of people, all pressing against him, all crowding and pushing to be near Jesus, only one woman actually touched Him. The others orbited around Jesus, they may have even physically brushed against him, but they failed to actually touch Him.

This woman, however, emboldened by both her faith and her long-suffering, with nothing left to lose, groped desperately for Jesus. And when she made contact with his cloak, it was not as one who just wanted to be seen with Him. It was not as one who was just curious. It was not as one who had nothing better to do that day than see this novelty of a man.

It was as one who demanded. One is foolish to demand anything from someone who is unable to deliver. She saw that Jesus was the Fountain of Life, her Inexhaustible Supply, the Provider, the Giver. She desperately made her plea, her claim even, on that power, that life. In her heart she thought, Jesus, I have nothing left but You. You're my last hope. I have suffered so long. I have lost all my money at the hands of doctors and gained no healing in return. I have only gotten worse when I longed to get better. Oh, but if I just touch you, I will be healed!

The disciples were bewildered. How could Jesus whirl around and ask who touched Him, when the crowd was pressing up against Him? I'm sure there were others in the crowd who brushed against His legs, His arms, His back. But He knew exactly who He was talking about, who He was looking for. Out of all the people brushing up against Him, vying for His attention, only one had actually touched Him. And it was the one who had, to the human eye, not truly even touched Him. But this woman who grasped the hem of His cloak laid more claim on His attention and on His power than the multitude pressing against His body. She was the only one who truly touched Him.

And He praised her for it. He praised her for her audacity. Her faith healed her. Her faith in His supply filled her every need.

He had everything she needed, but what if she had not laid claim to it? What if she had not reached out and touched Him? What if she had clung to condemnation and fear, telling herself how unworthy she was, and walked away still bleeding?

Perhaps others looked down on this woman. How dare she? How dare she think she is worthy enough? How dare she make such a claim on His power? How dare she put all her hope in His grace and love? How dare she touch a great Rabbi in all her uncleanliness, according to the Mosaic Law? But she dared. She dared. In all her suffering, in her poverty, in her uncleanliness and unholiness, she dared. And she was rewarded.

How many of us circle around Jesus, brushing up against Him in the crowd while never making any claim on His power? Too audacious, we think, to grab the hem of his cloak in our unworthiness. Too brazen. Don't I have to wait until I'm better? And once I'm "saved," don't I have to wait until I've become less sinful? But He is here. He is the Fountain of Life, the Supply, the Power. We are content to mill about Him, looking at Him, talking about Him, bragging that we've seen Him to our friends later that day...but never grabbing that hem in desperation and clinging to Him, making a claim on His power. "I will not let you go until you bless me!" cried Jacob as he wrestled in the night.

He has everything we need. All the grace, all the love, all the power, all the healing, all the victory. It does not do to stand looking at a Fountain when one is filthy. Looking at the Fountain, admiring it, discussing its virtues, will not make us clean. We have to lay hold on its cleansing power by touching that water for ourselves. Do not be afraid of approaching Him. Just as the Fountain would be foolish to expect clean people to come bathe in it, so Jesus knows it is only the dirty ragamuffins of this world who will summon up the audacity to grab His cloak.

"Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."