A woman had spent 12 years in great agony. Every single day when the sun will go up, she will gaze and ponder on her dilemma. When the malady gripped her, she presumed maybe she will come over it, with few visits to the physicians. This was never to be as she soon realized, no medic, or anything was alleviating the agony. She had tried it spiritually and the clergy were unable to find a solution to this malady which started as a normal issue of blood.
In those days a young man in his 30's and his roots traced to David, though hailing from Nazareth had began series of preaching and teachings. The way he operated was quite unconventional. He had a group of 12 people that were referred to as his “disciple’s. They consisted of men with no educational background to boast off. Some were fishermen as their trade suggested, and others among them tax collectors, and the nobodies according to the classification of man. His mode of operation was causing ripples and riveting in the land. It was rumored that the religious institution was unease with his way of operation. He had time and again gone against the grain. This man was ruffling the religious feathers the hard way; soon schemes were being hatched on how to cut his influence that was steadily growing with each passing day. The message he delivered resonated well with common people to the chagrin of the religious leaders who envied him because they believed that the clout, and grip on the spiritual matters was being lost.
Among the things he did, he brought a lot of freedom to the oppressed, and to those who had been maligned by divers’ issues. It never escaped notice that stories abound touching on great signs he had done by the fingure of God which were true and substantiated that, “he had made the sick recover, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dumb given utterance, and the blind saw. This did not auger well with the doctrine of the religious leaders who seemed keen to protect their turf which was being challenged by a nobody according to their understanding, other than being a carpenter’s son, who now laid claim to God among all who cared to listen suggesting the Mighty God, the deliverer of the nation of Isreal was indeed his own Father. Wherever he went he was followed by huge crowds, which consisted of all folks across the religious affiliation, who were now yearning for total emancipation as a result of the suffering inflicted to them spiritually and economically.
Many were now viewing him as the fulfillment of the prophecy, and this made his detractors uncomfortable. Others were willing to forcefully crown him as their King in a mundane way. He had resisted such moves, terming them us outrageous, saying his Kingdom was not earthly but established in heaven above. This message send mixed signals to his admirers in equal measure as it was received by his detractors. His own people thought he had gone bonkers, and desired to force him out of such moves, seeing it as a deliberate move by one of their own who had gone crazy. But the more they struggled to come to terms with the unfolding events, he never relented. He kept making the clarion call to all and sundry inviting them to His Fathers Kingdom. He reiterated that whosoever will believe in him, will not only have brought upon him or herself good, but will be absolutely freed from all the ills bedeviling humanity.
Such a message had never been heard before, with masses especially accustomed to the traditional way of worship, which entailed making a trip to Jerusalem, and participating in annual ritual before the High priest. Who will offer sacrifices for himself and the people and call on God on their behalf asking God to uphold justice, forgive the people, and liberate them from all the ills, making them a strong nation on earth as he had promised.
Even before this ministry had started in Nazareth, and now was the talk of the nation, this woman had already bore the brunt of the disease. She was spending her meager resources in trying to get rid of the disease. There was much opposition towards his ministry, the nation was divided, and no one seemed to shed light on the truth about this man who was being viewed as nuisance by the elders, and a great fraud because he was laying claim to Yahweh as being his true Father.
“What am I going to do?” She thought. Miracles were being reported, yes there was also another man who was his contemporary and his name was John. He had eloquently stated that indeed he was not the messiah, though thousands including the religious leaders had gone to him to be baptized in the Jordan River. Reports indicated he was now dead. He died when incarcerated in prison, Herod had kept him there. He was a no nonsense man who rebuked the King for taking his brother’s wife. Fate conspired against him, when the king was celebrating his birthday. In the palace were many invited guests who were noble. Then the daughter staged one of the greatest dances that moved everyone present. The king told her to place her request even if it meant half of the kingdom, it will be granted. Not knowing what to ask for, the girl ran to the mother, who told her what to ask for. It was supposed to be the head of John. Dismayed, because the King had respect for John, nevertheless with the pledge made before the dignitaries present, he was not going to show his weaker side, he ordered the beheading of John. Everyone, and including the aggrieved had come to know of the fact, that People were beginning to entertain the idea of Jesus being John the Baptist who had come back to life. All this was confusing. What was she going to do now?
In recent times, the same confusion has been noted. The suffering has been great to many people and painfully aggravating the already fragile faith. Who are you going to trust? One person is saying this, another that, who are you going to trust? The story commence in Luke 8:41
It is a story of hemorrhaging woman, afflicted, wrenched and her saving depleted in trying to find a cure to the hemorrhage. According to the law she was unclean. She remained in that state for 12 years. She needed a solution to this bizarre disease. She was unaccompanied by the husband when she came behind the press to touch the hedge of Jesus garment, which has left room to speculation that the husband might have abandoned her.
Today many have been abandoned, they have suffered many untold things, and others are suffering in silence. Undeterred by what clouded the ministry of this man from Galilee, she was willing to do all within her power and reach, to have the problem come to an end once and for all. Her hopes had diminished, the savings were now gone as the bible in that passage suggests. On that day Jesus was mobbed by a great throng, and many were pressing hard. This woman knew she had no time to waste in booking an appointment with any of the disciples or other folks who followed Jesus daily. She did not have time to waste. On sensing no option out of her dilemma, she settled on the thought which crossed her mind, there and there she perceived a sense of urgency and a voice would say inside her “touch the fringe of his garment”. Slowly she moved and drew closer, then by an act of faith touched the fringe of the garment, and immediately the hemorrhage fountain ceased. Jesus felt a healing virtue go out of him, and knew someone had been healed. Not wanting the whole saga to go unnoticed, he said “who touched me?” and the disciples were ready to give an explanation which lacked knowledge of the goings on in the spiritual set up. And the woman afraid, came forward and said “it is I who touched you, and immediately my blood stopped coming out” with this Jesus said “daughter your faith has healed you” From this episode 2,000 years ago we learn one thing, “not to allow what we see and hear bog us down” She had spend all, her savings severely depleted. But when she heard about Jesus she saw her situation come to an end. In spite of the crowd surging forward, and others wanted to present their petition to him in person. The woman had no time for this, opting to touch the fringe of his garment.
I may not understand what for years has been going on in your life, I may not beware of your dilemmas, but Jesus does. When everything is gone awry, folks have given up on you, Jesus has not given up on you. You need to step out of the spiritual cocoon, come before the Lord and lay the burden bear. God tells Jeremiah that he is the Lord God of all flesh and nothing is too hard for him! Jeremiah 32:27.
2012 is a year you need to come out of everything that has depleted your savings, or inflicted you. It is a year of healing and great victory over the oppressing enemy. Whether you have suffered financially or health wise your time to have the problem dealt with is now.
Jesus came to set the captives free, to give peace to them who for many years have never known peace. Let not the captivity of yesteryears take toll on you. If this woman would have listened to the many voices speaking at the time touching on Christ’s ministry, she would not have received the remedy to her malady. She did the wise thing. We need to do the wise thing and not to listen to divers antagonistic elements, that certain of the voices are bringing to our attention.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever more. No matter what you are going through today, the Lord has the answer to everything that is weighing us down.
I see someone receiving healing from the Lord. I see your promotion come. Your prayers are answered today. He is confirming to you his love. Arise; shine, for your glory has come! It is your year.
Dr. Ephantus
