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The Woman With the Flow of Blood

"Someone touched me, for I feel that power has gone forth from me.”

Our gospel today tells the story of a woman approaching Jesus with a desperate need. For twelve years, she had suffered with a hidden ailment.  It’s likely that few, if any others, were aware of her condition. In her distress, she had turned to those who should have been capable of healing to her. But she was disappointed. She could not seem to find a resolution to her problem no matter where she turned or how much she spent.

Then she heard of Jesus. 

Here was one, according to everything she had heard, who could help her. Here was one, she felt, who had the key to healing her problem. Here was one, she sensed, that offered her a final shred of hope.

So she worked up her courage, and set out to find him. There she spied him, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the crowd. Did he have time for her? Did he care about her? Would she be able to reach him?

She knew only one thing: This was her moment.  It was now or never.  So she fought through the crowd, got close to him, and then what happened? She reached out and touched the hem of his garment. 

And then we hear those words: “Somebody touched me, for I feel that power has gone forth from me.” It was precisely her touch that released the power of God into her body and healed her ailment.

Now let’s think on this for a moment. We use the word “touch” in a number of different ways. I can hardly think of it without remembering that telephone ad campaign “Reach out and touch someone.” I recall hearing it on TV when watching with Jeannie and being obedient to the message by reaching over and jabbing my index finger into her.  I was trying to see what would happen when you really did reach out and touch someone but nothing much ever did except her getting annoyed.

But of course, the ad campaign had a much more subtle and far less literal understanding of what “touching” really meant. The concept is that a certain form of “touch” occurs when a person who loves another extends himself to the other by opening communication with him or her. Even the ancient Greeks knew well that when friends communicated by letter, their spirits touched, though their bodies be far apart.

Another way we use the word is to refer to emotional impact:  “I was so touched by the card you sent me.” Somehow, when we say things like that, what we mean is that we have felt an “impression on our heart;” that something from outside of us has created a certain emotional sensation in us; a particular kind of response which could include sympathy, warmth, affection, appreciation, sorrow, or joy.  Whatever the case, we know we have been “touched.”

What about the concept of “touch” in the Christian life? “Somebody touched me, for I feel that power has gone forth from me.” The touch of Christ communicates his life-giving power.  That is clear. But where do we touch Christ today?  How does Christ touch us?

We live in a society that has a very individualistic concept of spirituality.  As I heard a preacher once say on T.V. as he adminstered communion to himself: “It’s just me and Jesus;”  I can remember also a popular Pentecostal chorus: “He touched me”  The whole point of the hymn is that the touch of Christ comes to the individual who is alone.

But that’s not really the way it works. Think of confession: Can’t God forgive on his own?  Why do you have to tell the priest?  People ask that all the time.  Why indeed? It is the touch; the human interaction – Christ touches us through the priest; we have to speak to a real person, listen to a real person and be touched by him.

Think of Holy Communion: Why did Jesus institute the sacrament of Holy Communion? Isn’t it enough to have Christ in our hearts? No. It’s the touch; the human interaction – we have to gather together, pray together, listen to the Word, and  receive the sacrament with our lips.

Think of the other sacraments: Baptism, Chrismation, Ordination, Holy Unction, Marriage: what do they involve?  Touchings, anointings, the laying on of hands, the joining of hands.

So this is where the touch of Christ is experienced; This is where we touch him and he touches us: His Church. That’s why there is a Church – as the body of Christ – not the soul of Christ, but the body of Christ – because it is a living, physical, arena of human interaction. Here Christ is known, Christ is found, Christ is touched: in the real church made up of real people. Yes, here in this place, through the sacraments, through all the human interactions of the body of Christ, there is actual contact with Christ.  He is touched and he touches.

But finding the healing power of Christ requires one thing: That you reach out to him. That’s what the woman did.

People sometimes have fears, especially when it comes to confession or approaching their priest or a fellow Christian about a problem or question. But the only way to find healing is to reach out, to take the initiative. Think about it: what if the woman had stayed home that day? In your case, it could mean attending a service, calling your priest, coming to confession, asking for prayer.  But the bottom line is clear: our need must be exposed if it is to be healed.  Only then can it be touched.

My brothers & sisters in Christ, the woman in our Gospel had suffered twelve long years.  It was long enough.  She was graced to learn where Jesus was, and so she struggled to get to him, reached out and touched him, and received the desire of her heart. You, too, are graced with the knowledge of where Jesus is.  Do not hesitate to reach out to him, that you too, may receive the healing of your soul.

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