Fighting the Crowd

Mark 5:30

At once Jesus realized in Himself that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my robes?”

When a woman with an issue of blood for 12 years had spent all her money on doctors who could not help her, she was without hope of living a normal life within her community. As an “unclean” woman, she would have to separate herself from family and friends and announce herself as “unclean” while in public. Having heard about Jesus and His healing power gave her new hope, but with a large crowd around Him, how could she ever get His attention to meet her need? If she approached the crowd yelling, “Unclean!” she would surely be shunned and made to leave.

The woman had enough faith to know her healing was possible, but to connect with Jesus required effort. If she could just touch the hem of His garment, which was what we may know as a prayer shawl, she knew she could be healed. She believed His prayers had enough power to heal her. She was desperate enough to fight the crowd. After all, He was her only hope. She had to try.

Once she reached Him and was able to touch Him, she knew she was healed, but she was not the only one who knew. Jesus felt the power leave from Him, and He turned around to look for her. Her faith had commanded power from Him. Jesus wanted to see who had such great faith because He lived among a people who had little faith.

Our faith has the ability to command power from Jesus. He sits today at the right hand of the Father, where He intercedes for us. We can still trust the prayers He prays for us. When a miracle is our only hope, we must stretch with our faith to connect with Jesus.

Connecting with Jesus to meet our own needs may require effort to fight the crowd, as well. Work and family demands, entertainment, sports, politics, fear, intimidation, doubt are all things that can captivate our attention and crowd our lives while Jesus is right there waiting for us to connect with Him. When our need is so great that these things become secondary to us, we are able to start pressing through the crowd to reach Jesus. He must become our priority, and reaching Him must be our goal above all else.

There is hope for your need today in Jesus. What crowd is blocking you? Dare to fight it and connect with Jesus. Your faith can command the miracle you need.

Have a blessed day!