Mark 5:28 says, “For she said, if I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole”.
Hopelessness – Attitude. This approach always lays hold of Jesus. Jesus senses the touch of the hopeless and always help the hopeless who come to Him.
A hopeless approach involves four attitudes. There is the last resort attitude. The woman had been hemorrhaging for twelve years; it was uncontrollable. No one could touch her nor anything she had touched. By law she was considered unclean that she was to be divorced by her husband (Leviticus 15:25-27). She was to be totally cut off from society and religious worship. This particular woman had tried all she knew. She had seen “many physicians” and “spent all that she had, and yet she grew worse”. There was nowhere else to turn except to Jesus.
When all else fails, there is Jesus. However, most people try all else before Jesus. Nevertheless, He loves us and He cares for us – enormously so. We should turn to Jesus, for He is always waiting for us – waiting even if we turn to Him as a last resort. A person who has been brought to the point of hopelessness; helplessness can be helped. When there is no hope anywhere else, there is hope in Christ.
There is the shy, embarrassed, unworthy attitude. Note the woman elbowed her way through the crowd and came up behind Jesus. She wanted to touch Jesus without being seen or noticed. WHY? She was embarrassed and felt unworthy. Her hemorrhaging was a personal intimate matter for her, something she did not want to be known and discussed, she was considered unclean; therefore, she felt unworthy to approach Jesus.
There is the expectant believing attitude. Note that the hopeless woman believed what “she had heard of Jesus”. She believed the gospel that Jesus loved and cared and would make her whole. Note the thoughts of her mind, “If I may touch but His clothes I shall be whole.” She believed in her thoughts, in her heart. She believed two things: the gospel (what she heard about Jesus) and the power of Jesus to make her whole.
The same expectant, believing attitude is essential for any person to come to Christ, whether hopeless or not. One must believe in the gospel and in the power of Jesus to make one whole.
Finally, there is the confessing attitude. Jesus had made the way easy for her. He had allowed her to be healed without embarrassment, but it was not enough to believe in secret. The secret disciple had to be brought to the point of confessing her faith.
The result is glorious. Jesus granted the request of the hopeless, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole, go in peace and be whole. The result was two-fold, she received peace. The fear and trembling were taken away and she was flooded with peace. Second, she was made whole both physically and spiritually. To God Be the Glory!
