Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?” Mark 5:30 (NLT)
Jesus was surrounded by throngs of people. The definition of a throng is a large, densely packed crowd of people. They were everywhere. You probably couldn’t move much and if the crowd moved, I bet you would move with them by default.
One of the people in the crowd was Jairus. He was a leader at the local synagogue so probably pretty important. He came and pleaded with Jesus for help. He could. He was important. I guess he felt comfortable going to Jesus and asking. Jesus started to walk with him and the crowd, of course, was following.
There was a woman in the crowd that wasn’t supposed to be there though. She had been bleeding for twelve years. In the Jewish culture, she was unclean. Unclean meant she shouldn’t be around anyone. Ever. She was basically quarantined from society.
She had tried everything to get better. Spent all her money. Tried many doctors. Nothing was working and I guess after being alone for twelve years….maybe she was just done. So, she snuck into the crowd and made her way to the only hope she had left. She touched his robe and could feel her body heal.
Jesus, being Jesus, said “Who touched my robe?” I love that line because there were probably a ton of people touching his robe but this was obviously different. And he stopped what he was doing to pay attention. This woman was so desperately seeking what he had to offer and Jesus noticed. He stopped in the middle of this throng and took notice of a woman who had nothing, not even social connections, because she was looking to him for help.
Jesus, was willing to stop what he was doing to get into her messiness. He put aside the important guy standing next to him. He put aside his task list (going to heal Jairus’ daughter). He focused on this one, inconsequential, needing to be healed woman.
He did it for her. He does it for you. Will you do it for others?