Have you ever recognized a person you know in a crowded airport? Maybe when you are far from home? One time I was in the old city of Jerusalem and saw my friend Brian Buhler (who recently spoke at our church) near the tower of David. It’s been quite a thing to see and recognize people we haven’t seen through the two years of covid (“is that really you?”).
“At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ‘You see the people crowding against you,’ his disciples answered, ‘and yet you can ask, ‘who touched me?’ But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it” Mark 5:30-32.
Have you ever recognized a person you know in a crowded airport? Maybe when you are far from home? One time I was in the old city of Jerusalem and saw my friend Brian Buhler (who recently spoke at our church) near the tower of David. It’s been quite a thing to see and recognize people we haven’t seen through the two years of covid (“is that really you?”).
This passage in Mark (as well as in Matthew 9 and Luke 8) that we will look at through October, describes Jesus on his way to raise a 12-year-old from the dead. On the way, one of the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for 12years, having futilely spent all her money on doctors while trying to get well. She reached out in faith and touched Jesus – and the verses above were his response. This resulted in her healing.
You would think, as the disciples did, that one person out of a pressing crowd would go unnoticed by the Lord – but he was aware. Even when the disciples –particularly Peter – chided him, he still persisted so he could talk with this individual sufferer.
Jesus’ response is consistent with what the bible teaches about God’s personal knowledge and awareness of you and me. David voiced it this way: “…you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O Lord” Psalm 139:3,4. Jesus said in Matthew 10:30 that even the hairs of your head are numbered by God. What a dramatic statement about God’s knowledge of you personally in a world with over 8 billion people!! He knows you – He knows everything about you – both the good and the ugly. He recognizes you in a crowd – He has loved you, warts and all, since before time started to be counted.
So, let’s be transparent with Him – honest and responsive. Larry Hein said: “Be who you is, because if you is who you ain’t, you ain’t who you is.” Is it time for you and God to have a chat?
Pastor Leon Throness
