NOTES for Mat 9:18-26

The healing of the woman with the flow of blood is a very impressive miracle. The point is not even that the rules said she was not to touch anyone, yet she dared to do so. In any event, we should not always use this example to justify our disregard for rules. The evangelist did not record this story for that purpose, nor is that what Christ approves in her actions. What contrasts most sharply with the behavior familiar to us is that she truly needs the Lord “desperately.” All her hope is concentrated in Him, and all the strength of her spirit is directed toward attaining this touch. She truly can no longer live unless she touches the Lord Jesus.

It was precisely this need for God that earned the Lord’s praise. By comparison, much in our “religious practice” will appear feeble and, to use the term from Revelation, lukewarm. Perhaps what matters most to the Lord is the strength and all-embracing nature of this need, burning in the most ordinary person, someone just like all of us.