One of the things we see throughout the Bible is that God is never really interested in making us a little bit better, and Jesus never worked to just improve our lives. What God is interested in and what Jesus worked for was complete transformation. God is interested in physical, emotional and spiritual wholeness. God wants to touch, heal and make holy every part of our lives and then through us God wants to bring about this kind of transformation into our community and world. If we look at Luke 4:18-19 we hear what many people believe is the mission statement of Jesus. Quoting from the prophet Isaiah, Jesus said that he came to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
What we see here is that Jesus came to transform every part of our lives. Physically, Jesus was gong to bring wholeness – sight to the blind. Emotionally, Jesus was going to set people free from oppression – he worked to set people free from the weight of guilt and shame. Spiritually, he was going to proclaim God’s favor and blessing which would bring people new life, and socially Jesus was going to bring good news to the poor, which meant that mercy and justice was going to rule in this world. Jesus mission was to transform people’s lives and then through these changed lives bring about the transformation of society. We begin see how this works through Jesus encounter with the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. Jesus didn’t just heal her physically; his touch brought about complete transformation.
To really understand this woman’s transformation, we need to think about where she was when she first approached Jesus. She had been bleeding for 12 years and in her search for healing she had been to countless doctors who took all of her money, but never really helped her. Her story is also told in Mark 5 where it says that the doctors took her money but instead of getting better, she simply got worse. So physically she is deteriorating, financially she has become destitute, and socially she has lost all her relationships. Because of her bleeding, if this woman came into contact with anyone, they would be considered unclean, so not only did people avoid her, but she would have worked hard to avoid others. So when she comes to Jesus, she was isolated and alone.
Not only was she cut off from people, but she was also cut from God. Her bleeding made her spiritually unclean, which meant that she would not have been able to worship in the synagogue or take part in the religious life of the community. Now think about what this means for her, they didn’t have the scriptures written down and available for the people to read, and even if they had, most women were not educated and taught to read, so she wouldn’t have been able to read the word if she had it. So for 12 years she had not been able to hear God’s message of hope, or mercy or grace. After all this time she must have begun to wonder if God still cared about her, of if God even knew her name.
A number of years ago I heard a story about a minister who was asked to preside at a funeral for a young man who had died of AIDS. The pastor knew that most of the people at the funeral would be young gay men and after the funeral they went to the cemetery for the committal service and when it was over the young men just stood there. No one made any moves to return home so the pastor asked them if there was anything he could do for them. One of the men, without looking up, asked the pastor if he would be willing to read the 23rd psalm. So he did. Then another asked to hear the story of the prodigal son. Another asked him to read from the psalms and another wanted to hear more stories about Jesus. What the pastor began to realize is that many of these men had been cut off from the church and they were simply hungry to hear the word of God. They had been cut off from the hope and the power and the transforming message of God’s love and grace. You see, there is something powerful about coming together to hear God’s word read in community. There is something transformational about hearing and sharing and discussing God’s word together. For 12 years this woman had not been able to even hear God’s words of love and grace which would have led her to even more isolation and desperation.
So when this woman comes to Jesus, she really is alone. She has lost everything, her money, her family and her place in the community. She has lost any sense of self esteem and self worth and on some level even relationship with God is gone. She had nothing and so it is clearly an act of desperation when she reaches out to touch the fringe of Jesus garment. She obviously had heard the stories about Jesus healing power and she believed that if she could just touch him then maybe she could experience his healing power. So she takes a huge risk and sneaks into the crowd and reaches out her hand to simply touch Jesus as he walks by and when she makes contact, his power and grace immediately heal her. In that moment she is physically transformed, her bleeding stops.
Now think about it, Jesus could have just kept on walking. The physical transformation that has taken place was wonderful and Jesus could have smiled to himself and just left it at that, but he didn’t. For Jesus, physical healing was not enough because he knew that God wanted something more. This is where we begin to see that God isn’t interested in just making our lives a little bit better, God wants transformation. God wants a complete change of heart and life and community and destiny. So Jesus stops when he feels the power go out from him and asks, “who touched me?” He wants to know who has experienced this healing so he can in some way hold this person and offer them the transformation of life.
Now what an incredible step of faith it must have been for the woman to come forward because she didn’t know if Jesus was going to care for her or condemn her, but in faith and with courage she steps out and in front of all the people not only tells Jesus that she was the one who touched him, but she tells them all why. I’m not sure I really thought about that detail before, but it says that in front of all the people she told Jesus why she had touched him. What a powerful and emotional testimony that must have been. She shared how after 12 years of sickness and desperation, she was finally able to experience healing. As Jesus listens to her testimony of physical healing he is so moved that his very next word opens the door to emotional and spiritual transformation.
Look at what Jesus says in Luke 8:46, he calls her Daughter. With one word Jesus reminds this woman that not only is she physically healed, but she can now be reunited with her family and friends, he has brought emotional healing and transformation. Maybe she had a daughter that she could once again hold in her arms. Maybe she was the daughter who could now return to her parents and family. With one word Jesus offers her the hope of relationship, which was something which had been missing for 12 years.
But that word also opens the door for spiritual transformation because this woman is not just the daughter of her biological parents, she is the daughter of God. When Jesus calls her daughter, he is saying, look, you have a place in the family of God, you are a daughter of Abraham. The transformation of this woman’s life is not just physical and it is not just relational and communal, it is also spiritual and eternal. She is able to return to her family, her friends, her community, as well as her church and her God. Her life is completely transformed and this is what God wants for us. This is the model of transformation that God shows us is available when we have an encounter with Jesus.
God may touch one area of our lives, but the power of God’s touch can transform every part of our lives. For example, God may bring physical healing to our bodies in some way, but that healing can lead to a stronger faith and trust in God, and that stronger relationship with God can lead to renewed relationships with one another and a more active role in our community. Or hearing God’s words of grace and knowing that we are forgiven can lift our self image and our sense self worth and when we begin to see that we matter to God, it changes our desire and ability to care for ourselves and for those around us. Knowing that God forgives us can help us reach out and forgive others, and that in turn can restore families and strengthen communities, which in time can lead to stronger churches that can more effectively share God’s love and change our world. Healing and wholeness may touch part of our lives, but God doesn’t want to transform just one part of us, he wants to transform every part of us, and he can if we will allow him to. You see, while transformation is the work of God, transformation can only take place if we are willing to come to God and seek his power and grace to be working in us. As we look at this woman’s transformation, we see that there are three important lessons to learn about how we need to encounter Jesus to find transformation.
The first thing we need to do is come to Jesus willing to let go of our pride. For 12 years this woman had tried to find healing on her own. She had looked at every option, seen every doctor and used all her money. She had done it all on her own. When she comes to Jesus she lets go of her pride, she isn’t thinking about what she can do to bring healing, she is simply thinking that Jesus can heal her. If we want to experience the transforming power of God then we need to stop thinking about what we can do to change our lives and simply allow God’s power and love to change us.
Not only do we need to let go of our pride, but we also need to let go of our guilt and our shame. Again, I am struck how this woman declared in front of all the people why she had touched Jesus. For 12 years she hid in the shadows and kept her distance from everyone. For 12 years she experienced the guilt and shame of being unclean, and yet here she is standing in front of everyone sharing her story. I wonder if her complete transformation needed her to step forward and share her story with others. Maybe transformation needs us to be willing to share with one another what we are struggling with today and where we believe God is taking us tomorrow. If we can let go of our guilt and shame and become vulnerable with one another, maybe the spirit of God will set us free to experience more of God’s power, which will bring us new life and lead to new relationships and a new community.
So transformation takes place when we are willing to let go of our pride and stop thinking we can change our lives on our own, and when we are willing to let go of our guilt and shame and confess our sin and brokenness to the One who can forgive us and the ones who can love and support us, and for transformation to take place we also must be willing to let go of our doubts and fear and step out in faith. What faith and courage it took for this woman to just slip into the crowd and risk it all to come close to Jesus, let alone the courage needed to reach out and touch him. If she had been caught she not only would have been humiliated but she could have been stoned, so what faith it took for her to believe that Jesus could not only transformation her life, but that he would want to.
Do we have this kind of faith and courage? Do we believe that God can transform our lives? Do we believe that God can work through us to transform our world? Maybe the more important question is do we believe that God wants to transform our lives and through us that God wants to transform the world? Do we believe that God loves us and the world around us enough to be willing to hold us in his hands while transformation and new life takes place?
I can stand here and tell you that, yes – God loves you that much. I can tell you that God loves you enough to begin a process and transformation and God loves you enough to complete the work that he began in you and I can tell you that God loves this world enough to transform it through us. I can tell you this, but you will never know this for sure until you are willing to have your own encounter with Jesus. There is an old hymn that has a line which says, we never can prove the delights of God’s love, until all on the altar we lay. We can never know the transforming love of God until we are willing to risk it all and come to Jesus looking for God’s love and help.
So I invite you today to come to Jesus and if there is an area of your life that needs to be transformed by the power and love of God, name it. Take a moment to say, God, I need your forgiveness for this… I need your healing here… I need your power to give me hope and to lift up my life. Tell God where you need his power and then in faith and trust reach out to him. During our closing prayer or song reach out to God and ask for his touch of love and for his power transform, and then may we have the courage to allow God’s love and power to transform our relationships, this church, our community and God’s world.
What we see here is that Jesus came to transform every part of our lives. Physically, Jesus was gong to bring wholeness – sight to the blind. Emotionally, Jesus was going to set people free from oppression – he worked to set people free from the weight of guilt and shame. Spiritually, he was going to proclaim God’s favor and blessing which would bring people new life, and socially Jesus was going to bring good news to the poor, which meant that mercy and justice was going to rule in this world. Jesus mission was to transform people’s lives and then through these changed lives bring about the transformation of society. We begin see how this works through Jesus encounter with the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. Jesus didn’t just heal her physically; his touch brought about complete transformation.
To really understand this woman’s transformation, we need to think about where she was when she first approached Jesus. She had been bleeding for 12 years and in her search for healing she had been to countless doctors who took all of her money, but never really helped her. Her story is also told in Mark 5 where it says that the doctors took her money but instead of getting better, she simply got worse. So physically she is deteriorating, financially she has become destitute, and socially she has lost all her relationships. Because of her bleeding, if this woman came into contact with anyone, they would be considered unclean, so not only did people avoid her, but she would have worked hard to avoid others. So when she comes to Jesus, she was isolated and alone.
Not only was she cut off from people, but she was also cut from God. Her bleeding made her spiritually unclean, which meant that she would not have been able to worship in the synagogue or take part in the religious life of the community. Now think about what this means for her, they didn’t have the scriptures written down and available for the people to read, and even if they had, most women were not educated and taught to read, so she wouldn’t have been able to read the word if she had it. So for 12 years she had not been able to hear God’s message of hope, or mercy or grace. After all this time she must have begun to wonder if God still cared about her, of if God even knew her name.
A number of years ago I heard a story about a minister who was asked to preside at a funeral for a young man who had died of AIDS. The pastor knew that most of the people at the funeral would be young gay men and after the funeral they went to the cemetery for the committal service and when it was over the young men just stood there. No one made any moves to return home so the pastor asked them if there was anything he could do for them. One of the men, without looking up, asked the pastor if he would be willing to read the 23rd psalm. So he did. Then another asked to hear the story of the prodigal son. Another asked him to read from the psalms and another wanted to hear more stories about Jesus. What the pastor began to realize is that many of these men had been cut off from the church and they were simply hungry to hear the word of God. They had been cut off from the hope and the power and the transforming message of God’s love and grace. You see, there is something powerful about coming together to hear God’s word read in community. There is something transformational about hearing and sharing and discussing God’s word together. For 12 years this woman had not been able to even hear God’s words of love and grace which would have led her to even more isolation and desperation.
So when this woman comes to Jesus, she really is alone. She has lost everything, her money, her family and her place in the community. She has lost any sense of self esteem and self worth and on some level even relationship with God is gone. She had nothing and so it is clearly an act of desperation when she reaches out to touch the fringe of Jesus garment. She obviously had heard the stories about Jesus healing power and she believed that if she could just touch him then maybe she could experience his healing power. So she takes a huge risk and sneaks into the crowd and reaches out her hand to simply touch Jesus as he walks by and when she makes contact, his power and grace immediately heal her. In that moment she is physically transformed, her bleeding stops.
Now think about it, Jesus could have just kept on walking. The physical transformation that has taken place was wonderful and Jesus could have smiled to himself and just left it at that, but he didn’t. For Jesus, physical healing was not enough because he knew that God wanted something more. This is where we begin to see that God isn’t interested in just making our lives a little bit better, God wants transformation. God wants a complete change of heart and life and community and destiny. So Jesus stops when he feels the power go out from him and asks, “who touched me?” He wants to know who has experienced this healing so he can in some way hold this person and offer them the transformation of life.
Now what an incredible step of faith it must have been for the woman to come forward because she didn’t know if Jesus was going to care for her or condemn her, but in faith and with courage she steps out and in front of all the people not only tells Jesus that she was the one who touched him, but she tells them all why. I’m not sure I really thought about that detail before, but it says that in front of all the people she told Jesus why she had touched him. What a powerful and emotional testimony that must have been. She shared how after 12 years of sickness and desperation, she was finally able to experience healing. As Jesus listens to her testimony of physical healing he is so moved that his very next word opens the door to emotional and spiritual transformation.
Look at what Jesus says in Luke 8:46, he calls her Daughter. With one word Jesus reminds this woman that not only is she physically healed, but she can now be reunited with her family and friends, he has brought emotional healing and transformation. Maybe she had a daughter that she could once again hold in her arms. Maybe she was the daughter who could now return to her parents and family. With one word Jesus offers her the hope of relationship, which was something which had been missing for 12 years.
But that word also opens the door for spiritual transformation because this woman is not just the daughter of her biological parents, she is the daughter of God. When Jesus calls her daughter, he is saying, look, you have a place in the family of God, you are a daughter of Abraham. The transformation of this woman’s life is not just physical and it is not just relational and communal, it is also spiritual and eternal. She is able to return to her family, her friends, her community, as well as her church and her God. Her life is completely transformed and this is what God wants for us. This is the model of transformation that God shows us is available when we have an encounter with Jesus.
God may touch one area of our lives, but the power of God’s touch can transform every part of our lives. For example, God may bring physical healing to our bodies in some way, but that healing can lead to a stronger faith and trust in God, and that stronger relationship with God can lead to renewed relationships with one another and a more active role in our community. Or hearing God’s words of grace and knowing that we are forgiven can lift our self image and our sense self worth and when we begin to see that we matter to God, it changes our desire and ability to care for ourselves and for those around us. Knowing that God forgives us can help us reach out and forgive others, and that in turn can restore families and strengthen communities, which in time can lead to stronger churches that can more effectively share God’s love and change our world. Healing and wholeness may touch part of our lives, but God doesn’t want to transform just one part of us, he wants to transform every part of us, and he can if we will allow him to. You see, while transformation is the work of God, transformation can only take place if we are willing to come to God and seek his power and grace to be working in us. As we look at this woman’s transformation, we see that there are three important lessons to learn about how we need to encounter Jesus to find transformation.
The first thing we need to do is come to Jesus willing to let go of our pride. For 12 years this woman had tried to find healing on her own. She had looked at every option, seen every doctor and used all her money. She had done it all on her own. When she comes to Jesus she lets go of her pride, she isn’t thinking about what she can do to bring healing, she is simply thinking that Jesus can heal her. If we want to experience the transforming power of God then we need to stop thinking about what we can do to change our lives and simply allow God’s power and love to change us.
Not only do we need to let go of our pride, but we also need to let go of our guilt and our shame. Again, I am struck how this woman declared in front of all the people why she had touched Jesus. For 12 years she hid in the shadows and kept her distance from everyone. For 12 years she experienced the guilt and shame of being unclean, and yet here she is standing in front of everyone sharing her story. I wonder if her complete transformation needed her to step forward and share her story with others. Maybe transformation needs us to be willing to share with one another what we are struggling with today and where we believe God is taking us tomorrow. If we can let go of our guilt and shame and become vulnerable with one another, maybe the spirit of God will set us free to experience more of God’s power, which will bring us new life and lead to new relationships and a new community.
So transformation takes place when we are willing to let go of our pride and stop thinking we can change our lives on our own, and when we are willing to let go of our guilt and shame and confess our sin and brokenness to the One who can forgive us and the ones who can love and support us, and for transformation to take place we also must be willing to let go of our doubts and fear and step out in faith. What faith and courage it took for this woman to just slip into the crowd and risk it all to come close to Jesus, let alone the courage needed to reach out and touch him. If she had been caught she not only would have been humiliated but she could have been stoned, so what faith it took for her to believe that Jesus could not only transformation her life, but that he would want to.
Do we have this kind of faith and courage? Do we believe that God can transform our lives? Do we believe that God can work through us to transform our world? Maybe the more important question is do we believe that God wants to transform our lives and through us that God wants to transform the world? Do we believe that God loves us and the world around us enough to be willing to hold us in his hands while transformation and new life takes place?
I can stand here and tell you that, yes – God loves you that much. I can tell you that God loves you enough to begin a process and transformation and God loves you enough to complete the work that he began in you and I can tell you that God loves this world enough to transform it through us. I can tell you this, but you will never know this for sure until you are willing to have your own encounter with Jesus. There is an old hymn that has a line which says, we never can prove the delights of God’s love, until all on the altar we lay. We can never know the transforming love of God until we are willing to risk it all and come to Jesus looking for God’s love and help.
So I invite you today to come to Jesus and if there is an area of your life that needs to be transformed by the power and love of God, name it. Take a moment to say, God, I need your forgiveness for this… I need your healing here… I need your power to give me hope and to lift up my life. Tell God where you need his power and then in faith and trust reach out to him. During our closing prayer or song reach out to God and ask for his touch of love and for his power transform, and then may we have the courage to allow God’s love and power to transform our relationships, this church, our community and God’s world.
