21When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."



That was from the book of Mark 5:21-34. This story, and the way Mark tells it, is so intriguing to me. It begins with a synagogue ruler named Jairus falling at Jesus' feet and begging Him to come and heal his dying daughter. Obviously, this took a lot of faith on Jairus' part, and since Jesus was into that, He decided to heal this man's daughter. But it's what happens on the way to Jairus' house that astounds me most...

He was on his way to an esteemed man's house, and the crowds that he was trudging through pressed against Him. Dozens were just bumping into the Son of God. People touched the hands that would save the world. The One who was there at the creation of the universe, was here saying "Excuse me, pardon me" to the people whom He created. Enter this woman. She has been dealing with this bleeding for 12 years. I would get upset if I had to deal with a hangnail for 12 years, much less an "issue of blood" (which I'm still confused about what that means). She had heard of Jesus, and since she had tried everything else (and had exhausted all of her money on it), she found herself in a place of desperation with nothing to lose. Her faith told her that if she could just touch Jesus' clothes, she would be completely healed. So this woman fought her way through the crowd and got to Jesus' feet, where she touched his robe- notice that I'm assuming that it's a robe-like piece of clothing. That is not scriptural. Immediately, she was healed. Moreover, Jesus felt the power leave His body. He stopped in the middle of a crowd of people bumping into Him to ask "Who touched me?"

This story scares me a little. I'm scared that I might be in the crowds of people brushing by Jesus, while one touches Jesus in power. It's interesting that you can press against God but never have a touch that changes you. Now, I live in a generally Christian society, insofar as most of my friends are Christians and my family are Christians, and most compellingly, I am a leader within my church. It makes me wonder how many people come to church week after week, and are so pressed against the presence of God that it is almost literally skin against skin, but remain unaware of what God longs to do in their lives. They remain. Unchanged.

It brings up this idea of proximity and intimacy. There is a vast difference between the two.

I have an amazing church. A church where the unmistakeable presence of God shows up week after week. Yet some, and sometimes I, sit there in disconnect from what others are experiencing. We are close, but we are not close. We are near the presence of God in terms of proximity, but very far from it in terms of intimacy. I think the ultimate biblical example of this would be Judas, a man that could kiss Christ's face with a kiss of betrayal.

I've grown up Christian. In church, I can talk the talk. I can sit in disconnect for an hour and a half, pray for someone else (when I haven't prayed myself in weeks), and then go talk to the pastor like I'm brother Bible man. I know how. I can do it. What makes this worse, is that I can do all of these things while being pressed up against God. 2 Timothy talks about godless people that have "a form of godliness but denying it's power". Honestly, that describes me sometimes.

It just takes pressing through the crowds and reaching up to Jesus in desperation.