Are You Lost in the Crowd?

Suddenly she was close enough to reach out and touch His hem, and she was flooded with His power. Her touch didn’t make Him unclean; instead His touch made her clean. She felt the cleansing, healing power of His touch transform her from death to life. Joy! Celebration!

Then, to her dismay, He stopped dead in His tracks. Brought the whole crowd to a screeching halt. “Who touched Me?” He demanded. She tried to hide, tried to disappear into the crowd, but He wouldn’t stop asking, “Who touched Me?”

The crowd and the disciples were agitated. Why would He stop? He was on His way to do an important job. Didn’t He remember Jairus’ agonized cry: “Jesus, my little daughter’s dying!”

There had been no daddy to part the crowds for the woman with the issue of blood; no daddy to cry out on her behalf; no daddy whose heart was breaking for her pain.

Or was there?

When at last, trembling in fear, she confessed that it was she who had
touched Him, He looked into her eyes and said, “Daughter!”

Maybe, then, it wasn’t just her touch that stopped Jesus in His tracks. Maybe it wasn’t just her touch that caught His attention. Maybe it was the voice of her Daddy whispering, “Jesus, My little daughter’s dying.”

You’ll stop at nothing, if you’re a Daddy, and your little daughter is dying.

She had braced herself for the scorn she knew was coming. And found instead that He looked her in the eyes and called her by a new name: “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:34).

Jesus was not satisfied just to heal her body. He wanted to heal her soul. When the healing flooded her body, she had what she desired from Him. But He did not have what He desired from her. He longed to bring her into His presence where He could shower her with love. He wanted to make her whole. He wanted her to know she had a Daddy.

Lost in the Crowd?

Do you ever feel lost in the crowd? Overlooked? Maybe even judged? You might believe that if anyone could see through your carefully crafted disguise—the veil you pull over the real you—he or she would call you unclean. Do you keep your true self hidden behind actions and a lifestyle meant to protect you from scrutiny?

A moment of radical obedience. One step.

The Scripture says that we can live unveiled. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). We can live out loud and on display because we are reflections of the Lord’s glory. That’s how people see the reality of Christ in the world—through us living authentically and transparently.

Like the woman in Mark’s story, you have been flooded with the presence of Jesus. Your shame has been removed. He can call you front and center in front of the whole crowd and say, “Your faith has made you whole.”

Small Change

Today be intentionally aware of the Father’s tender mercies and loving kindness toward you. Let yourself enjoy His attention. Revel in the fact that you are not a face in the crowd to Him, but rather you are His dearly loved son or daughter.

Jennifer Kennedy Dean is executive director of The Praying Life Foundation and a respected author and speaker. She is the author of numerous books, studies and magazine articles specializing in prayer and spiritual formation. Visit her web site for more information about her ministry.