Who Can You Touch Jesus For

Dec. 22, 2007

Who Can You Touch Jesus For?

Kathleen Maples

Mar 5:25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, Mar 5:26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, Mar 5:27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. Mar 5:28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. Mar 5:29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. Mar 5:30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? Mar 5:31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? Mar 5:32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. Mar 5:33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. Mar 5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. I want to look at something that happened in a crowd of people one day, as Jesus was on His way to raise a 12 year old girl from the dead. You could say He had serious and urgent business to attend to, in the eyes and minds of men. There was a crowd all around Him, clamoring for His attention. Many hands were reaching for Him. In the midst of this crowd, there was a little woman. I say little, because she had a terrible condition-she'd been bleeding for 12 years, and had tried everything the doctors could think of and only got worse. When a person loses a lot of blood, especially for so long, they become anemic, very weak, and pale. They have little energy. This woman must have been so desperate. I believe she was broke, alone, and hurting deep inside her heart because she might as well have been a leper. Lev_15:25-27 tells us that women who were bleeding this way were unclean, up until 7 days after they stopped bleeding. She had been bleeding for 12 years. According to the law, she was unclean, and everything and every ONE she touched would be unclean, as well. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had someone touch her or hold her, or be kind to her. According to Jewish law, she was an outcast, because she was unclean. She wasn't allowed in the Temple, the religious leaders would have no part of her, fearing she would defile them, so she had lived without hope for a long time. Then one day, she heard about Jesus Christ. He had worked many miracles, and He had cast devils out of people. He could HEAL people, He walked among them, not like the Pharisees. I can see her watching the crowd this day, seeing Jesus from afar, heart pounding with fear. She began to move, pushing her way through the crowd, ignoring the gasps of dismay at her presence. She ignored the sound of the law thundering in her mind, you're unclean! You can't touch Him! Everybody

knows you are unclean! If you touch Him, He will be angry because you will defile Him! I believe her fear threatened to overwhelm her but her desperation won out. She settled for a compromise....if she could just get close enough to this Jesus to touch just the border of His garment, she just knew she would be healed. She made it, reached that trembling hand out, and she had to be on her knees to reach the hem of His robe. According to Num_15:38-39, the Jews were directed to put fringe, or tassels on the hem of their garments to remind them of the law, and commands of the Lord. She reaches out, and the only thing she touches is that very part of His garment that reminded her the law condemned her as unclean. He's on His way to raise a dead girl, but He stops. He feels power surge out of Him into her. He stops and turns and knowing what has happened, looks directly at her (Mar 5:32). Their eyes lock, and she is stunned as she sees not anger, and outrage, but compassion and love. Who touched my clothes? He asks, looking at her. The disciples try to brush His question off, because there were so many people around. They thought it a silly question. I can almost imagine how wildly her heart must have been pounding, as the word "caught" must have flashed through her mind. I believe she was afraid, because she knew the law condemned her as unclean, and the people had considered her an outcast for so long and here He was staring at her with those eyes. She trembled with fear and uncertainty, and saw He wasn't going to move until she confessed what she had done. He knew this woman had bore such pain, weakness, and shame for far too long. I believe He stopped and called attention to this event, because not only did He want her healed, He wanted her reproach removed. He would see to it she was not an outcast any longer. She stepped forward, uncertain, afraid, but knowing she had been healed. She fell down before Him and painfully I'm sure, confessed how her, an unclean woman, had dared to touch Him. But only the hem of your garment, Lord. Not you. I don't believe she wanted to defile Him. I don't believe she could have, had she touched Him. He turns these most amazing eyes of love and compassion on her, smiling gently. This was one of His now. Daughter, He calls her, you believed, and you can go in peace, you don't have to be ashamed any more, you don't have to be afraid anymore. You aren't an outcast anymore. Your faith has made you whole." I know I'm paraphrasing here, but I believe this was His heart for this woman who had suffered so much for so long... She, this humble, fearful, insecure little woman, thought to remain hidden in the crowd, unnoticed, and He shines the light on her, so all would know she was delivered. What mercy. What compassion!!!! No more could they call what HE had cleansed common or unclean!!! The Pharisees were a rigid bunch of authoritarian, strict, hypocritical people. They twisted and perverted and even obscured the law of God. The lame man in Acts 3 was laid "outside" the temple at the Beautiful Gate, because the Pharisees wouldn't allow him inside! How can I say that? If you will look at Lev. 21 with me, I'll show you... The Lord is laying out the order for the holiness of the priests.

Lev 21:17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.

Lev 21:18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Lev 21:19 Or a man that is broken-footed, or broken-handed, Lev 21:20 Or crookbacked, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken; Lev 21:21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. Lev 21:22 He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. Lev 21:23 Only he shall not go in unto the veil, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them. Now what does all that mean? We must understand God is a holy God. HE has the right to declare how things should be and set the divine order for how those who approach Him should do so-and to choose who can and can't approach Him. But you must also balance that with an understanding of His merciful, compassionate heart of love in your own mind. Remember, when He sent His Word into the womb of Mary, wrapped in flesh, to walk among us, He did not send Him to the rich, the educated, the cream of society's crop and the powerful. He sent Him to the halt, maimed, blind, poor and needy. He sent Him to the outcasts like the lepers. The priest was to keep oil in the lamp, keep fresh shewbread on the table before the Lord, offer incense which is symbolic of prayer, to the Lord. But there were certain things that disqualified any one of Aaron's lineage from being in the holy place. If you had any of these things in Lev 21, you could not approach the Lord as a priest and minister to Him. There are spiritual applications to these and that is important for us to understand so we can examine ourselves. Anyone with a blemish-a moral stain, or physical defect could not go into the veil or come to the altar before the Lord to minister the priest's duties. Remember now, according to Peter, and John (1Pe_2:9, Rev_1:6) those who are born again and are His, are the priesthood, so this applies to us who seek God and serve God. That is where the spiritual applications apply to us. The conditions laid out here are types of spiritual problems. A blemish-moral spot or stain on your garment-in our own righteousness we cannot dare approach a holy God for it is as filthy rags (Isa_64:6) Praise God for the blood of Jesus! A blind man, who cannot see.2Co_4:4 says the devil has blinded men's minds to the truth. Jesus said if the blind lead the blind, they both will fall. A lame man, one who can't go forward or walk with God. If you look up in the Hebrew the word for "flat nose" it's "charam" (H2763-I encourage you to look it up for yourself) and it means something split or divided that is marked for destruction. Jesus said a house divided cannot stand, it will fall. The word "superfluous" (v. 18) literally in the Hebrew means to stretch one's self out, as in, more than is necessary, that which serves no useful purpose (.i.e. in the kingdom of God, which is our flesh, self-life). Broken foot, and broken hand are a little different. This means (spiritually) someone who can't walk or endure because of affliction, someone whose hands, or ability to reach out has been ruined, broken, destroyed. They are heavy handed, hard, destructive, and often religious people who would beat you over the head with the Word, unable to minister in compassion and gentleness. As for the rest, you can paraphrase these to say " anyone who doesn't walk straight (Luk_13:24), can't see the truth of God clearly and is impotent, has no ability to speak the words of life into someone else's situation. They can't take the talents and abilities God has given them and

gain for Him. There is no fruit. I don't pretend to understand all this, I know it's much deeper than what I am seeing, but these Scriptures tell us that those who were afflicted with these things could no minister to God, which would also mean they couldn't minister to others, as well. BUT the Lord said these would be able to eat the bread of his God, he could not go into the holy of holies. You had to go into the temple to eat the bread. But the Pharisees had looked at this part of the law and added their own little tradition-if you have any blemish, you just can't come in here. They kept the lame man out. They had a temple guard to make sure undesirables did not get in. These 'officers' were the very ones called on to arrest Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. I found an interesting type of this in Matthew 12. When you walked into a synagogue, you entered a building that had the main floor, an outer court for the women, and Gentiles, (who weren't allowed inside), and the upper balcony. This upper level overlooked the entire building, and anyone seated up here were in the best and most expensive seats in the house, and could see everything and easily be seen. This was where the Pharisees always sat. They were considered the "elite" of the time, and considered themselves above everyone else. On the Sabbath, this day, in walks the Son of God. They see Him walk in, according to Luk 6:6 He was teaching the people. They were watching Him to accuse Him, and He knew it. He saw the man with the withered hand. I wonder if he was only allowed in this day to test Jesus. I don't know. That would only be speculation on my part. But for some reason, he was there and Jesus saw that hand, that hand that was dry and withered up, and unusable. He couldn't reach out and touch anyone. Mar 3:5 says He was grieved for the hardness of their hearts. Jesus said stretch forth your hand, and the man was able to do this. It was made whole. By the very fact He had power to heal, showed the Pharisees did not. The Scripture speaks of Christ, as the Servant God delights in. He was full of the Spirit of God, He would be the Word sent to the Gentiles. He would not cry or draw attention to Himself, He would not wound the hurting, He would not break the bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax. What is flax?

Flax is something grown Egypt, and listen to this: it is torn from its native soil in Egypt, Israel, or India. The stalks of the plant are laid out in strips, to dry out in the scorching sun. In Biblical times, they were laid out on the roofs of houses to dry-and this was a hot, desert climate. Later, they were put in ovens to dry out. They are then peeled, to separate the stalk from the fibers inside which are used to make fine linen cloth and also wicks for lighting lamps. Then, it is torn by a comb designed to straighten, and remove knots, and impurities, then it's tied to stones, and immersed in water so it can be ready to be transformed into white, linen garments on a spinning wheel. We, as Christians, are taken out of sin, rooted up from our dark, sin-gripped world, and put in the kingdom of God's dear Son, bathed in His Light, and we have a purifying, sanctifying process to go through, as well. Our flesh life, our self-life has to be stripped away, and destroyed, like circumcision of the heart. It's a painful process. Flesh and self have to go. We have to learn we can't trust anything in ourselves to be good enough to bring to

Him. Then when we are tired, and empty of ourselves, he immerses us in living waters, fills us with Himself, he anchors us to Himself-He is the Rock, the Cornerstone the builders rejected. (From The Bride of Christ, the Virtuous Woman, 9/28/06, It's About HIM). 2Ti 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 2Ti 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; This is how the One who died for us treated us. There are those who would stand in the pulpit and wield the Word of God as a Hammer and beat the people with it, rather than break the Bread of Life and feed it gently to the people. They do not trust the Word of God will not fail to accomplish what God intends it to when delivered with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. They try to do it in their flesh, and they end up hurting, wounding and maiming people spiritually. Religion is deadly and brutal. Just look at the cross and see what it did to the Son of God. May I encourage you, who take time to read this, who do you know that is hurting, wounded, and suffering? You can touch Jesus for them. If they can't make it to Him, because someone hurt them, because they have lost their faith, YOU can touch Jesus for them. That same, compassionate and merciful, and knowing Lord who healed the little woman with the issue of blood is no respecter of persons. If you are in need of His touch, or you know someone who is, you CAN touch Him. You don't have to be perfect. He was made our perfection, our redemption, our righteousness, our HOPE of glory. He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and He loves you so very much. Look up to Him, lift your heart up to Him, and touch Him. Don't listen to your mind, or other people. Listen to the Word of God. You are greatly beloved of the Lord. He paid a high price for you. He sees your heart, not what you wear, or have, or don't have. All the blemishes in the world would not keep Him from loving you. HE can restore, He can make all things new. He is the Lord, and nothing is impossible with Him.

Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.