"Pressing Issues" - Luke 8:40-48

A few years ago Clint Davison took a preaching job near Chicago and my family and I were fortunate enough to go visit the Davisons during the same weekend that Manchester United (English soccer team) was playing Bayern Munich (German soccer team) at Soldier Field. Collin and I got the opportunity to attend the game and it was so cool because one of the sponsors was giving away Bayern Munich team jerseys. Apparently, the sponsor was giving away thousands of these jerseys because the line to get them was so very long. However, the sponsor must not have given them all away because on the way out of the stadium, standing on top of giant cement wall, a worker started shouting: "get your free jersey." Now the stadium held 60,000+ and it was full. We were exiting one of the main exits, so there were tens of thousands in the crowd AND they all decided they wanted a free jersey whether they already had one or not. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to care who was in front of them or how hard they were pushing. Collin was five or six and this was a very bad scene. People were not only pressing up against us they were nearly crushing us. I did pick Collin up and pushed my way through the crowd, away from the mentally challenged worker that started the mess.

I have heard stories and read about crowds crushing people to death at concerts and sporting events. I was so very happy to not be a part of news on that day. Have you ever been a part of a crowd crushing? What thoughts or fears were going through your head? What sounds were you hearing and what did you physically feel? Collin and I felt hundreds of hands and bodies pressing, pushing, cramming us with no regard for us and we only had one goal and that was to get out of there.

Can you imagine the scene of today's passage? Jesus has been told of a little girl that is dying or maybe dead and He is making His way to her house. The crowds were nearly crushing Him as He walked; everyone was trying to see or touch the healer. I imagine they thought based on the stories that they had been told that they too would have something amazing happen to them if they could just touch Him or see Him.

Among the pressing crowd was a woman wh had an affliction that was long lasting (12 years), irreversible, and according to the Mark's account had caused her to spend all that she had trying to be healed by doctors (note that Dr. Luke supported the doctors inability to cure by saying that the affliction was untreatable). The affliction was a constant bleeding that not only rendered her weakened and sick but also made her ceremonially unclean. To the Jews this woman would not be welcome in the synagogue, at their feasts, in their homes.... She was pretty much worse than an outcast. Somehow this woman made her way through the crowd with the single goal to touch the hem of the clothes of Jesus. She knew that a simple brush of His clothes could heal her from the terrible disease.

I find it hard to think of something so important to go back into the crowd in Chicago. How this woman somehow made her way all the way to the front and successfully touched the One that could heal her is beyond my understanding. Can you imagine what she thought when He said, "who touched me?" Can you imagine what the disciples thought when he said it? Why do you think that Jesus asked who it was, surely He knew already?

Have you ever wondered how many others in the crowd were healed of the afflictions when they touched Him? There are so many accounts of healings of crowds just in His presence. However, in this instance, we are not told of any other healings. We just hear Jesus say: "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace." What a powerful lesson of determination and faith Jesus was giving to His disciples and to those in the crowd ready to hear.