IT is reported that as Jesus was on his way to the house of Jairus, at the request of this ruler of the synagogue, in order to heal his daughter, a certain woman who had spent all her living in a vain effort to be healed of a debilitating and chronic malady, reached forth and touched the hem of his garment, saying within herself, "If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole."
This touch of the woman was a reaching forth, an awakening from hopelessness and despair. We are told that she had suffered many things, had spent her all, and perhaps she had heard her doom in the word "incurable," so it was doubtless with fear and trembling that she even reached forth her hand. The multitude thronged, and she could not bring herself to plead her cause before those curious and critical eyes. She shrank from a public exhibition of her woes and the rude jest or sneer that she might hear from the lips of the idle and curious, and yet she believed, was assured, that here was a man of integrity; to look upon his face was to know he was at least beneficent and kind. She knew that at his word the lame walked, the blind saw, the dumb spoke; and if others were healed, why not she? Her attempt to touch him then was born of hope and faith, for back of it was the thought, "I shall be made whole." She reached forth, and even as the mother bird responds to the nestling's cry, divine Love met her great need, for we read that "immediately her issue of blood stanched."
When Jesus asked, "Who touched me?" Peter replied, "Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?" Peter considered only the material touch. With Jesus it was impossible for such a great need, such hope and such faith, to come into his presence without his knowledge. Voice might not speak, eye might not see, ear might not hear, but he who was about his Father's business knew when the needy called, knew when the Father that dwelt with him was doing the work, for he abode in the realm of Mind.
