Mark 5:25-34
When I think about vision, I think about what could be—if I plant this sapling, if I cut out carbs, if I invest in this friendship. There is something that is not yet but has the potential to be if I were to do this one thing. So, my “vision” drives me to take a step in a direction to live differently.
In my devotional times lately, I’ve been taking a story from the gospels where Jesus interacts with someone and focusing my attention on that interaction for a week or so. My present focus is on the story of the hemorrhaging woman from the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke all retold this one). She has been bleeding for twelve years; she sees Jesus in the crowd and touches His hem. Wait, go back to the first part of that sentence. She’s been bleeding for 12 years! I hated seven days a month, and I had the blessing of modern amenities. Because of the religious/cultural laws of her day, she would have been required to stay apart from people—her people—because she was unclean. She desperately spends all of her money to find a medical solution, but the situation only gets worse. As she hears of this prophet who heals, she desperately fights the crowds that she is not even supposed to be in, reaches out and touches Him as He passes.
Now that’s vision! She saw something that was not yet—her healing—and the potential that could be if she would just do this one thing. She broke the rules and put it all on the line for a vision of what she could be if Jesus would heal her. “Desperate times, desperate measures,” so the saying goes. She was certainly desperate, broke and alone, and risked everything for a vision of what could be different.
But Jesus doesn’t let it slide. He feels the power drain from Him and asks who touched Him. I love how Peter’s frustration surfaces when he says (paraphrased), “ALL of them! ALL of them are touching us!” Jesus doesn’t get distracted by his attitude. He just looks for her. The woman confesses and immediately shares her situation in front of the whole crowd. (I wonder if they pulled away in disgust.) Jesus responds in kindness and encouragement: “Your faith has made you whole.”
This woman’s vision for what could be but is not yet, driven by her faith that this Man could change her life, drove her to do that one thing.
What is the one thing that I need to do today to move me by faith toward the vision God has given me?
ACTION: Draw a picture of a vision God has given you. As you look at that vision, what is one thing that He’s inviting you to do today in faith to move you in that direction?
