Take Heart! Jesus Has Got You!

Luke 8: 40-48 As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.  And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.  She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

You take desperate measures when you have tried everything to make life better, and nothing works. For the woman in the story in the text, she risked death to obtain healing after 12 years of suffering from a disease and the doctors’ treatments. Being viewed as unclean meant she was not to be in a crowd, but she was at the end of her hope.

Jesus was busy with Jairus pleading for his daughter’s life, so she didn’t interrupt Him by trying to get into His face. Instead, she reached through a crowd of people, who, if they had known she might render them unclean, might have hurt her or started a stampede that may have caused her death.  She grabbed the tassel of His robe with a firm grasp. It was like a child grabbing a handful of his or her mother’s skirt to feel safe and holding on to it for dear life. Power came from Jesus’ body, and she received her healing.

She had her life back! She could be among family and friends again. She could walk in the city without calling out that she was unclean! She could laugh and have fun again. Jesus healed her physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually! Most important, she could return to the synagogue!

Psalm 69:32-33 states, “You who seek God, take heart! For the Lord listens to the needy and does not despise His own who are prisoners!” She was a prisoner of her disease, held captive to the pain and shame of being unclean. She sought Jesus, and when she was healed, Jesus turned to her and called her “Daughter!” He let her know that her faith had saved her. The word, Daughter, denotes so much love and care. He sent her away with a peace that had escaped her for 12 long years.

So, let us seek God through Jesus today in this season in which we rejoice that “a child was born, and a son was given” for our salvation, physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually. Whatever our needs are today, let us seek Jesus, reaching towards Him with a firm grasp and holding on until our change has come! His power can still save us and help us in His own way and time.  Take Heart, Children of God! Your Savior has come! He’s got you! Hallelujah!

Amen!