Mark 5:25-34
"THEN THE WOMAN...CAME AND FELL AT HIS FEET AND, TREMBLING WITH FEAR, TOLD HIM THE WHOLE TRUTH. HE SAID TO HER, 'DAUGHTER, YOUR FAITH HAS HEALED YOU. GO IN PEACE AND BE FREED FROM YOUR SUFFERING.'"
(MARK 5:33-34)
In Victor Hugo's novel, Les Misérables, desperation drives Jean Valjean to steal bread for his starving family. The story follows him as he searches for, and finds, redemption.
The woman in our passage was also desperate, perhaps somewhat like Jean Valjean. She had suffered from a bleeding disease for 12 years. She had spent all her money but had found no cure. Jesus was her last hope. She believed He could heal her, even if she only touched the hem of His cloak. Jesus did heal her, but it wasn't her touch that brought healing; it was her faith in Him.
Today, people speak of many paths to heaven. Some live lives of deprivation to please God. Others practice good works to prove they are worthy of salvation. But the Bible tells us salvation is a gift God offers by grace - a gift received by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Desperation over sin may drive us to look for answers in many places. But faith in Jesus Christ is the only answer. He purchased our salvation and offers it freely to a desperate, sin-sick world.
INSIGHT
WHAT DO YOU TRUST IN WHEN YOU ARE DESPERATE? FIND HEALING IN JESUS CHRIST ALONE FOR SALVATION FROM THE PENALTY AND POWER OF SIN.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Jeremiah 7-8
Psalm 107
Romans 5-6
Mark 5:25-34
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
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.”
SIMPLY LIVING IN CHRIST ALONE [PART 2]
with Keith & Kristyn Getty
The phrase "in Christ" appears dozens of times in the Bible and is often found on the lips of Christians. But what does it really mean?
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