In Scripture we hear the story of a woman with a bleeding disorder (Matthew 9:20-22) who has been bleeding for 12 years. She has been to many physicians and not one has been able to help her. It’s easy to gloss over the shock of this – here is a woman with more than a decade of vaginal bleeding.
She’s truly an outcast, unclean according to the traditions of her day. She would not be allowed to visit the temple or be in mixed company. She is likely in physical and emotional pain. To what can she cling? She has been made to let go of so much already.
She goes to where Jesus is and touches the hem of his garment. In my head, I see this woman gently reaching out. Maybe that’s how it happened, but the Greek word that is translated as “to touch,” hepsato, can also mean “to fasten to” or “to cling to.”
As this woman clings to Jesus, his love and healing cling to her, too, meeting her hurt and fear. We could do worse than to cling to Jesus like this.
This message is excerpted from “Clinging and letting go” by Lisa A. Smith in the May/June 2023 Gather magazine.
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