FINDING PEACE IN THE MIDST OF A CROWD
(September 4)
“And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, ‘If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well.’ And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, ‘Who touched my garments?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’’ And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well (σέσωκέν σε, saved you); go in(to) peace (εἰς εἰρήνην), and be healed of your disease.’” (Mk 5: 24-34)
Why is it her faith, and not her touch, that has “saved” this woman (i.e., made her “well” or “whole”) and empowered her to “go in(to) peace”? Wasn’t it immediately after she touched His garment that the hemorrhage ceased? Yes, but her decision to step out of her comfort-zone; to come out into the crowd, reach out and touch Christ’s garment, and to fess up to it before everyone, was made possible by faith; by faith, which overcomes fear.
Our faith enables us to overcome a certain fear of others, to reach out and find the help we need, and ultimately to find “peace.” It’s sort of counter-intuitive, but we don’t find peace by keeping to ourselves in the comfort of our homes. We find it by coming out and reaching out to touch God in the midst of His crowd. Lord, help me today, once again to step out of my comfort-zone and to reach out and profess You in the midst of others, that I may have peace.
