Luke 8:45

THE POWER OF A TOUCH

‘Who touched Me?’

Luke 8:45

It was the peculiarity in the touch that called forth the question. The weakest of all actions was that touch only on the edge of Christ’s robe, the remotest part of that which was connected with the Lord; yet, as when we clasp hands with one who is holding an electric chain and feel the shock, so Christ felt it. Virtue went forth like an electric current. But it was by His will that it went forth.

What was Christ’s motive in asking this question?

I. He wished to give the woman an assurance of entire and permanent cure.—The woman might have doubted as she remembered she had obtained it surreptitiously, but Christ saved her from fearing on that account the return of the malady. She might have been subject to constant dread. Dread might induce nervous unsettling of the body that might bring back the old disease. Miraculous knowledge of her experience and cure was at once manifested by Christ, and He confirmed her physical healing by His question. It was like saying, ‘Daughter, fear not. No wrong has been done. Be thou henceforth perfectly whole.’ Intimation was also thereby given that she was not to be content with that physical cure, but should seek still more the spiritual healing.

II. Christ would let the woman see that He had sympathy with her.—He was not afraid of contact with the sinful, but wanted to come near. He felt an interest in her, loved her, and said not ‘woman,’ but ‘daughter.’ How much would that word express to her soul! No cold tone that chills the spirit, but a lava stream of mercy and love was in that word. And not even this from afar. He comes near, showing His willingness to be touched or to touch. The power of personal contact is great. What a lesson for us!

III. Christ sought also to give an opportunity of expressing openly gratitude for what God had done for the woman in secret.—Christ asked the question. She told Him all the truth. Many who are healed are soon lost in the crowd. Christ did not want praise. He would not proclaim His own miraculous power further. But to be grateful was a benefit to the one who had received a benefit. Hence Christ sought to foster it in the woman. If alone or in a crowd we find Christ, we must also acknowledge Him openly. He knew how afterwards she would wish for an opportunity of thanking him. What a satisfaction to be able to express obligation! See how it beams in the woman’s eye. When He departs she follows Him, either in the crowd or with her eye, as He goes on His further errand of mercy to the house of Jairus. She would not so easily have confessed Him before healing. Have we no debt, no need for gratitude, no interest in Christ, no love to Him? We ought to confess Christ. This woman’s readiness shames us.

Illustration

‘We go to the masses of this day and attempt to elevate them by calling them to lift themselves. Touch them: go and put shoulder to shoulder and clasp hands with them. If the Church had done this there had been less socialism. There is a great difference between the kindness of benevolence and that of affection. A literary artist speaks of the effect upon a cultivated man of an old oil-painting of Jesus healing a blind man, and how his mother said, “The blind man was a beggar, and poor and loathsome, therefore Christ would not heal him afar off, but put His hands on him.” The same writer also tells how a benevolent lady had tried to “do good from sense of duty, and had a sense of loathing of the object in her soul. She did not think that the one whom she had tried to benefit had keenness enough to detect the loathing, but she did.” Of course, this one said that she knew the lady “could not bear her, nor even allow herself to touch her any more than she would a reptile. Yet she had expected to do good while shrinking from contact.” Thus with many now. Christ’s plan is different. Here He calls forth the woman that He may teach her of His deep sympathy, and show that He is not afraid of defilement. If masses are to be lifted, it must be in the same way.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

CHRIST THE HEALER

No contact is lighter than that of a touch. We say of it ‘Only a touch!’ Yet the faintest touch has a power which acts and re-acts infinitely, and which produces circle beyond circle of effects which run on, interlace, and multiply for ever. But this was no common touch. There was something in it which gave it peculiar and Divine significance. What was it?

I. Why this touch attracted the particular attention of the Saviour.

(a) It was the touch of a sufferer whose case had been desperate.

(b) It was the touch of faith.

(c) It was a touch that wrought an instant and perfect cure.

He who trusts Christ crosses the line between the state of the lost and the state of the saved.

II. Why did the Saviour ask the question?—This excited the wonder of the disciples.

(a) Not from ignorance. Omniscience asked the first question ever heard on earth (Genesis 3:9), and unless we have misread the Scriptures, and have hitherto been trusting the wrong person for our Saviour, it was omniscience that asked the question, ‘Who touched Me?’

(b) Not from exhaustion. When prophets and apostles wrought miracles of healing, it was by a power foreign to themselves, which they had to invoke by prayer: when Christ wrought them, it was from His own indwelling power. No gifts can impoverish a Divine giver.

(c) Not from displeasure. In village streets where Jesus was expected the sick were placed in long ranks of beds and litters, that they might catch from Him some comforting notice as He passed along, and touch the hem of His garment as it floated within their reach, for they knew that He delighted in mercy.

It was not therefore from any of these motives that Christ asked the question. We must account for it on some other principle.

III. Manifold seems to have been the design of the question.

(a) It was intended to show that He marks the difference between thronging and touching Him. The Saviour ever discriminates between the mere accidental touch of those who rush with the multitude and the conscious, dependent, voluntary touch of faith.

(b) It was to enlighten and invigorate the faith of her who touched Him. Weak and half-superstitious as was her faith, it drew from Him the blessing wanted.

(c) It was intended to be a method of asserting His right to be glorified for what He has done. Conscience may be telling you that in your own life there is a repetition of the conduct that called forth this question of our Lord. God’s battles will never be fought, nor His work done, nor His name spread in the world by a race of secret disciples.

(d) Christ asked the question that the interview with the woman, to which it led, might issue in the bestowment of His benediction.

Illustration

‘This woman having made her resolve, adopted the likeliest means she could think of. There is one Heal-all, one Divine Catholicon, and only one Happy is he that hath received this infallible balm from Jehovah Rophi. She persevered in the use of the means. Have you been to Doctor Ceremony, Doctor Morality, Doctor Feeling? She spent all her substance over these means of cure. What came of it all? Her sole reward for suffering and spending was that she had suffered much additional pain. That is the case with those who have not come to Christ but have sought relief apart from Him.’