Who Touched Me?

By Jacqueline Hannah 

She sat opposite me at the small table nestled in the back corner of a busy coffee shop.  Her hands folded and unfolded.  Her eyes, serious and direct, watched for my reaction.  “I can’t go on like this much longer.  Maybe I should end it all.  It would be so much better for my family.  They wouldn’t have to deal with my fears, my outbursts, and my depression.  Each day is different – they’re never sure what to expect.”

I remembered a story about another woman who felt as desperate as my friend.  Her feelings of hopelessness drove her to consider the impossible too.

Maybe if I only touch the hem of his garment are her thoughts recorded throughout history.  They give hope to those of us who struggle with thoughts of desperation..Mark 5:25 – 34 tells this woman’s story.  She sought the end of a hopeless disease.  Because she hemorrhaged, synagogue and temple officials declared her unclean.  Everyone shunned her, including her own family.  For twelve years she looked for a cure from many physicians, but her desperate situation only became worse.  She tried everything that modern medicine offered.  What’s left?  She had no social life, being kept from synagogue and temple.  Her strength was gone.  Even her family avoided her.  She faced the end of her rope.  Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if she ended it all? But “after hearing about Jesus” (Mark 5:27, NASB), she determined to seek hope.  Instead of mulling her sad situation over and over inside her head, she stepped into the crowd that surrounded Jesus and reached out. The crowd pushed and shoved as they tried to get closer to the Master.  The teeming mass of humanity surged and pushed as individuals moved in closer.  The disciples surrounded Jesus in an effort of protection and formed a clearing as he walked.  Yet in the midst of all this commotion one woman silently reached out for hope.  If only.  Her thought registered the hope she placed in Jesus as the answer for her dilemma.

As you and I face obstacles that seem to have no end, offer no hope, and cause us to consider desperate measures, remember this woman’s story.  Jesus knew exactly when she touched him.  He turned and asked “who touched me?” and “saw the woman who had done this.”  (Mark 5:32 NASB).  He gave her the chance to declare her hope in him.

Jesus will know when you reach out to him.  He will meet your need.