One minimal touch unleashes an infinity of force

This image of the woman with the issue of blood approaching the Lord clandestinely has captured and captivated the imagination of generations through the centuries and many things have been said about this scene, sermons and hymns have been written about courageous action. and desperate for this woman.

This idea that this woman is breaking through the crowd first is something very powerful; She does not ask for permission, she does not give away her condition, I imagine that she is pushing people and causing annoyance in the crowd, but she has a desperate mission and she knows that she has only one chance, and if she does not take it she will lose it forever.

She moves through the crowd, imposes herself on the obstacles and approaches the Lord from behind, and I imagine that she extends her hand in front of two or three people who are in front of her and the disciples maybe and bang, she touches the edge. of the mantle of Jesus.

So here is a call for us not to let the obstacles or the difficulty of our situation, or throughout our suffering, prevent us from continuing to seek the solution that is in the Lord.

The Word says that: "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, touch and it will be opened to you" and that Word of the Lord is an invitation to persist, to impose ourselves on difficulties, to understand that many times before the blessing of the Lord we will have to give proof of our faith by overcoming obstacles, being diligent, as the Lord said to Joshua: "Look, I command you to make an effort and be courageous."

There is a part that God does and a dimension in which He wants to work but He also wants to hear our cry, He wants to see our faith in Him and this motivates His Heart and unleashes the power and divine intervention. This woman prevailed over the circumstances, prevailed over her illegal situation, took great risks and finally touched the edge of the Lord's mantle.

Why is it important that you touched the edge of the Lord's robe? There are two possible interpretations of why the writer, Luke, points to the fact that this woman touches the hem of Jesus' robe.

On the one hand we can see that all it takes is just a touch, even a marginal and small one, to reach God's power. The power of God is so great that just the slightest touch unleashes an infinity of force. So even though this woman only touched the edge of the robe that is enough because in God the power is infinite.

Many times our life, our sinful condition, the circumstances of our life do not qualify us for more than just a minimal approach to the Lord. Sometimes we feel unworthy, we have problems, a person for example who is not married feels like I have no right to come before the Lord, I have no right to give my life to God, I have to fix my affairs first.

Look: the only thing that God needs is a slight movement of the heart, an approach to the Lord, a minimum contact of intensity and passion. That is all that God needs sometimes, a gesture of faith and of approach and He is willing to take that, and from there continue to work with us.

We do not have to wait for everything to be fine in our life for God to attend to our needs, God is merciful and compassionate. The Word of God says in Psalm 103 that: "As a father has compassion on his children, the Lord has compassion on those who fear him." All God wants is a knock from us on His door for Him to immediately open.

The father of the prodigal son all he needed was to see him from afar, all ragged and repentant, and he felt in his heart: my son is returning, and immediately he left the house to receive him, the only thing that God needs is a minimal approach. In this case, this woman only touched the edge of Jesus' robe and that was enough to unleash all the power of heaven in her favor.

The second is that some more knowledgeable commentators on the Jewish tradition say that what she did was touch the area of the mantle of a pious Jew such as Jesus that contained certain religious elements that were as a sign of the Presence of God in his life. character. So perhaps what she was doing as we almost say, superstitiously, was wanting to touch what she considered to be that strategic aspect of this rabbi's clothing because that is where the Power of God resided. There was some superstition here, a fixation on the object, right? of power this man had that in a way she hoped would project God's power over her.

And this reminds us that many times our faith can be imperfect. This woman kind of had this idea that the Lord's mantle, there was something like magic here, right? like if I touch something that is connected to Him then that is going to be enough.

So we see here something that this woman's faith was imperfect, it had tinges of superstition and magic, but none of that prevented her from being healed, why? because faith in her was more than enough. Faith in her neutralized all imperfections, all defects in her understanding of the Lord, and she obtained for herself what she needed.

There are times when a Church may have some doctrines there a little wrong or that not everything is perfect in your life or in a community, but thank God that He does not see the perfect of our theology or the perfect of our knowledge about Him and that all you need is faith, faith in His Person, faith in what He represents and what He embodies.

The thief on the cross, this criminal whom the Lord forgives while on the cross, did not make such a clear confession of the Lord's divinity or His saving character but simply discerned that this man who was in the midst of them, the two thieves, he was a servant of God, he was a powerful man who had a special access to God and he simply provided himself with that to ask: hey, when You are in Your Kingdom remember me, and the Lord was merciful and said: Truly I tell you that today you will be with Me in paradise, because he saw the faith of man and that was all he needed.

Many of these characters do not have perfect faith and do not understand all the details about the Person of Jesus, but they believe in Him and have a naked faith that is what moves the Heart of God. May God that we can also exercise that kind of aggressive, powerful, visceral faith that is what pleases the Lord and motivates His Heart. God bless you and until our next study.