Pressing Through

Pressing Through

She had been bleeding for twelve years. In first-century Jewish culture this meant ritual uncleanness, social exclusion, financial ruin from medical expenses, and the particular cruelty of a suffering no one could see from the outside. She had tried everything. Nothing worked. On the day Jesus passed through her town she made a choice: she was going to touch the edge of His cloak no matter what. The crowd was thick and pressing. She was supposed to be invisible, untouchable, kept away from public spaces. But she pressed. She reached. She touched. And immediately something happened that twelve years of effort had never produced. Jesus felt power leave Him and stopped to find her. 'Daughter,' He said — a word He used for no one else in the Gospels — 'your faith has healed you.'

The woman with the issue of blood teaches us something about the nature of faith: it is sometimes not beautiful or clean or publicly celebrated. It is sometimes desperate and inconvenient and done in the middle of a pressing crowd. She didn't ask permission. She didn't wait for a proper appointment. She pressed through every obstacle that stood between her and Jesus. Hebrews 11:6 tells us God rewards those who seek Him — but seeking sometimes requires pressing through crowds of discouragement, chronic suffering, social shame, and the accumulated weight of years of unanswered prayer. What has kept you from pressing through today? The hem of His garment is still reachable. Jesus still turns when faith reaches Him.