March 15, 2000
GREAT QUESTIONS OF THE BIBLE:
"Who touched me?"
Luke 8:45
___Jesus asked this question when a woman who had been sick for 12 years touched the hem of his robe. The crowd was pressing in on Jesus when the woman reached out to touch him. Immediately, the flow of blood that had troubled her for all this time stopped.
___ Jesus asked this question, not because he did not know the answer, but because the grace of God healed her, and she needed to tell others of her healing.
___Jesus asked the question to gain the attention of the people so that they might have their thoughts turned toward God.
CHARLES CLARY
Pastor, Tate Springs Baptist Church, Arlington
___ Jesus asked this question so that people would know she had spent all of her resources to be healed by men, and that her only hope was the love and power of God.
___ Jesus asked this question to communicate that he truly cared about people and was willing to meet their needs and had the power to meet their needs.
___ Jesus asked this question so that it would be revealed that faith touches the heart of God--that faith may be a child-like faith or it may be the desperate faith of this woman and others like her.
___ The question Jesus asked, "Who touched me?" has a very simple answer: "You do." Our needs touch the heart of God. Before man was created, God had a plan. He would make a creature in his own image. What is "the image of God?"
___ Are we physically like God? I'm not sure, but he has chosen at times to reveal himself in human form. Are we spiritually like God? Well, God is a spirit, and we have a spirit. Are we emotionally like God? He hates sin, he loves us, he is a jealous god and we have those kinds of emotions. Are we intellectually like God? He knows everything and has given us the capacity to learn and to know.
___ But God exercises his will, and of all his creatures, only man has a will, makes choices. God is "chooser." He made man in his image, so man is a "chooser."
___ And many times we make bad choices. And to overcome the results of our mistakes, we need someone to save us. The plan of God was prepared to let us choose and make our mistakes. He did not create us to be robots. But when we choose and make mistakes, the plan of God provides one who cares--Jesus.
___ Jesus is touched by our bad choices and wrong decisions. Jesus is touched by our hurts and heartaches. Jesus is touched by our weakness and lack of wisdom. Jesus is touched by our foolishness and fragile humanity. Jesus is touched by our pride and rebellion.
___Jesus was so touched by our needs that almost 2,000 years ago he left heaven, came to earth, and paid the penalty for our sins on the Cross.
___ When he says, "Who touched me?" then he says, "You do."
Previous Columns: 7/14, 7/21, 7/28, 8/4, 8/11, 8/18, 8/25, 9/1, 9/8, 9/15, 9/22, 9/29, 10/6, 10/13, 10/20 10/27, 11/17, 11/24, 12/1,12/15, 12/1,1/5, 1/12. 1/19, 1/26, 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23, 3/1, 3/8.
Send this story to a friend
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!
