Touching the Clothes of Christ

In Luke 8:40-48 Jesus is walking through the crowd on His way to the house of an important ruler whose daughter has died. On his way, a woman (who had suffered from a blood discharge disease for twelve years and gone to countless doctors and had yet to experience any breakthroughs) reached out from the crowd to touch even a small corner of his clothes. Scripture tells us upon contact, the blood flow stopped and she was healed.
Presumably sensing power going out from Him, Jesus asks the crowd, "who was it that touched me?". With that context, we look at verse 47;

And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before Him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed.

My first question I pose to you, readers, is this: why do you think Jesus asked "who touched me?" Perhaps the simplest answer, because He didn't know who had. Although possible, I would consider this unlikely in view of God's questions posed throughout the rest of scripture. Often when questions from God appear throughout the bible, they are not posed in search of an answer, as to enlighten God. God already knows the answer, and thus the question is usually asked for the audience's sake.

From that perspective, it would appear that Jesus wants the woman to speak out and declare her actions before the crowd. As we have established, this was not for his knowledge, but I would instead contend that the purpose was for her experience. It was most certainly as well, a test for her faith as well. Jesus has done something for her that she did not earn, and now He asks her to tell everyone around her what He has done. Sounds oddly familiar to the call that Jesus has on the lives of 21st century Christians as well, doesn't it?

Just like the woman in this story, we have reached out to Jesus and been healed. Our desperate condition of eternal death that was approaching, has now been destroyed and replaced with eternal life. Jesus asks us, "Who came to me?" with the intent of an answer before the people. We are in the same position as this woman, and are forced to consider our response. Will we wait in awkward silence and allow Our Lord to stand before the crowds and appear to be crazy as others mock Him with jeers of "No one touched you, Jesus. No one follows you."?

Our lives are meant as a testimony of God's work in us. Your story is meant to be a testimony of the goodness of God in human history. Pray over this challenge from scripture. How do we need to alter our response? If we remain silent, then who will testify of the work in our lives? We have orders to be witnesses for the nations! But how can they believe if no one tells them?

Jesus asks you, in front of everyone you know, "What have I done for you?".
What is your response?
-matt

If Forgiveness had a Price Tag

If forgiveness had a price tag,
I'd be worse than broke
I'd work all day
endlessly
for my redemption.

If forgiveness had a price tag
I'd live in shame
Broken and hurting
alone
with no hope of rescue.

If forgiveness had a price tag,
nations would crumble
The world would erode into
chaos
Discord, the norm.

If forgiveness had a price tag,
love would be bound.
Hidden from me
Elusive
My heart in pain.

If forgiveness had a price tag,
Christ would pay it.
He'd be my ransom.
Perfect.
His blood is my price.

Forgiveness had a price tag,
and it has been paid.
Today I walk
Free
Sending grace to others.
For my bail has been posted,
and my hope is sure.
Grace was meant for others.
Forgiveness,
the way of God.

-matt

Matthew 5:20

"For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven." - Matthew 5:20

Jesus is a pretty straight forward guy isn't He? On first glance, it would appear that the bar has been raised higher than we can reach. That would be correct. Jesus knows just what He said, and He wants to get the crowd (and you) thinking. Righteousness, for many, is obtained from following the rules and living as closely to the Law as possible. The Pharisees in particular, based their entire lives on being perfect in obedience to the law. Their hope was this: if I obey everything in the Scriptures, God will count me righteousness enough to enter Heaven.

Pharisees (both today and 2000 years ago), Jesus has news for you. You can't do it. Christ intentionally made a point that the righteousness you had was not enough to gain entrance to the Kingdom. You could waste your entire life trying to earn, but trust Jesus when He says that it's beyond your reach. Paul echoes this in Romans 3:10-11 as he writes "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God."

That realization must be reached to move forward. The painful truth is that many of us are still caught up in trying to earn holiness. We struggle with laziness - so we ask Jesus to take it away as we lay on the couch watching tv. We have can't seem to stop spending our money on wasteful things, and we promise that we will stop - after we purchase this one last item. But we buy and buy and buy. We know God sees how ugly we are, so we try and clean ourselves up before we come to him.

The mind then begins to wonder, declaring, "There must be another way." That's what Jesus was hinting at.  Christ took the religious system of the day and flipped it on its head. He does the same today. The church, quite often is left open-mouthed and confused. No longer can institutions created by man facilitate the growth of righteousness. Instead mankind is left with nothing to make itself worthy.

That's what makes grace scandalous. You see, everything about the word grace is unfair. We receive the righteousness for free without earning it. Jesus faces death so that we can obtain the gift of Heaven that is beyond our reach. You see Jesus not only raised the bar. He also lifts those who seek Him up to it.

This is not a call to rejoice in our worthiness. This is a time to marvel in our worthlessness. Open your eyes. Look at God through the lenses of grace. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God"


For the Righteous One,
-matt