Listen to His Touch
Mark 5:21-42
"...a man came along who was covered with leprosy. ....Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' he said. 'Be clean!' And immediately the leprosy left him."
(Luke 5:12-13)
The musical genius embodied in Ludwig van Beethoven astounds me. When only 20 years old, he began going deaf, yet continued to compose some of the world's most magnificent classical works. It is understood he attached a wooden pole to his piano's soundboard so he could "listen" to the vibrations by clenching the rod with his teeth. He listened through touch.
One day, surrounded by a noisy crowd, Jesus "heard" the desperate touch of a very sick woman. She believed if she could just make contact with the miracle worker's cloak, she would be healed. At the very moment she did, Jesus "realized that power had gone out from him" (Mark 5:30) and did not disregard it. He knew her touch had been filled with both need and faith, so He pronounced complete healing over her. Over and over again we read in the Gospels of Jesus touching those in need, even the leprous "untouchables," and how their bodies responded to Him.
Jesus touches our deepest need, too. Trust Him, and know the healing of His touch.
INSIGHT
When Jesus passed a leper colony, He heard them shout, "Unclean, unclean!" His righteous life and payment on the cross wiped them - and us - clean!
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Numbers 19-20
Psalm 71
John 12
Mark 5:21-42
Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24 So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ "
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher anymore?"
36 Overhearing[a] what they said, Jesus told him, "Don’t be afraid; just believe."
37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." 40 But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.
Footnotes:
a. Mark 5:36 Or Ignoring
New International Version (NIV)
JESUS IN THE VALLEYS [PART 1]
with Kay Warren
We look forward to mountaintop experiences, but we live most of our lives on the valleys. Jesus promises that he is with us even in the darkest of days and desires to use those times to shape us.
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