Touching Jesus in faith

'Who touched my garments?' Jesus asked. The answer of his disciples was rather sarcastic: 'You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, "Who touched me?"' They are right, there is a big crowd; there are so many people who rub against him, and he cannot move around without touching anyone. It is senseless to ask who touched me in such a crowd.

However, for Jesus, it was a special touch. It is not like the touch of the hundreds of people around him. He felt the healing power going out of him at the moment of that touch. That touch is thus different from all other touch.

When Jesus insisted on identifying that person who touched him, a woman came forward from the crowd trembling. She had touched him from behind the crowd so that she will not be identified. She had many reasons for remaining anonymous: shame, being woman in a majority male crowd, more than that with that annoying constant bleeding she is defiled. Whatever she touches and whoever touches her is deemed to be defiled.

But she touched in faith. The people who were thronging around Jesus did not touch him with faith like hers. She believed that a touch of his garments will heal her. Her touch was different because it was a touch of faith.

There are many people who gather around Jesus. They throng into gospel crusades, Christian fellowships and Bible study groups to know more about him. But only a few really touch him to be healed, to receive his power to heal. It is up to us to decide whether we belong to those who throng around him or the one that touches longing to be healed; to receive his special power.

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