One of the most fundamental principles of HushAndDo is TRANSPARENCY – mainly transparency with one’s self. Who is going to be the one to admit that he or she has a need and needs help? And who is going to be a part of the larger number of people who simply aren’t ready to admit they have issues or people not ready to take that inward journey of transparency and seek help?
The Woman with the Issue of Blood – a popular story from the Bible, is found in 3 of 4 gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), but I lean more towards Mark and Luke’s account of the story, especially Luke. If you’re not familiar with the story I’ll quickly recap it:
Luke 8.42-48.There was an a woman who suffered from hemorrhaging for 12 years. She went to all sorts of doctors to get help but none could cure her. She suffered much under those physicians and spent all she had on them. No luck. Still bleeding. One day, determined to be cured she said to herself, “If I can just touch the fringe of Jesus’ garment, I know I’ll be cured!” She did just that and pressed her way through crowds and crowds of people. Crawling on the ground, desperate to not be discovered, she reached out and touched the fringe of his garment. As soon as she made contact her bleeding IMMEDIATELY stopped. Jesus could tell somebody touched him. He stopped walking and asked, “Who touched me?” Peter quickly responds, “My man…..it’s tons of people out here. Of COURSE someone touched you/bumped into you.” Jesus: “No, this was different. I felt power come out of me.” When the woman realized she couldn’t remain hidden, she confessed everything and told the truth, but also told Jesus how she was immediately healed too. He looked at her and said, “Daughter, your faith made you well. Go in peace.”
TRANSPARENCY. Here’s my point. That woman had a legitimate issue. And that issue troubled her for 12 years. There were many people there walking too, many bumping into Jesus as well. Many crowds. One woman. Many people. One issue…..
My question is this: was that woman the only one there with an issue?
YET
She was the only one there who was transparent enough and desperate enough to do what needed to be done in order to be helped. How many of us are like the crowds in this scene? Walking around, bumping into Jesus (bumping into the resource(s) for help), yet not accessing Him? Bumping into Him but not getting touched by Him. We go to church routinely as if it was a job (God forbid you miss a Sunday and incur the wrath of God for not going to church 1 week out of 52 per year!!!), yet we don’t touch Him. We come to bible studies and just bump into Him. We pray and just bump into Him again.
But where are the people who with no reservation will admit, “I need help!”? And do whatever it takes to be made whole and to get help? How easy is it to focus on others’ issues and ignore our own. This woman focused on her issues. I see no place in this text where the woman had concerns about the other people there. She identified the path to healing and went for it! She had an issue of blood. I have issues, but I have transparency too. I am The Man with The Issue and Transparency.
I’ll close with this story. One day my oldest daughter, Brooklyn, came into the room I was in, hopped in my lap and just started hugging me and kissing me over and over. She said, “I love you, Daddy!” with those big bright eyes and hugged me again. She laid in my arms for a quick few and then went back to play. She didn’t want anything (at the time). While she was gone playing, I said to myself, “That little girl has no clue that there’s NOTHING I wouldn’t do for her!” And I began to plan ways to surprise her later on. She didn’t ask me for anything, yet I was already working on things to do for her and give to her.
Jesus told the woman to go in peace because her FAITH made her well. He didn’t say the touch of his garment made her well; but her faith. I would argue that as she was desperately clamoring about the grass and the dust, trying to discretely get to Jesus to touch him with her hands, that her FAITH had ALREADY touched Him before she left the house.
And I imagine God watching us go about our everyday lives, smiling saying, “That child of mine has no clue that there’s NOTHING I wouldn’t do for her/him.”