PERSISTENT FAITH

PERSISTENT FAITH



Persistent –Continuing steadfastly in spite of opposition.


Obituary: Woman, age unknown, name unknown, died today after suffering over 12 years from an unidentified disease which caused her to bleed uncontrollably. After spending all she had on doctors who were unable to find a cure, she resigned herself to the local leper community to spend her last days. Those who knew her describe her as a nice person who just “couldn’t catch a break”. She died just after sunrise this morning – there will be no memorial service.


This is a pretty depressing summary of a person’s life. While this obituary is fictional, this could have been the end to the story of the woman with the issue of blood had she not reached out to touch Jesus*. Put yourself in her shoes for a moment – during those times, a woman was considered unclean while she was menstruating. Her husband could not touch her, she had to separate herself from her community, and she wasn’t permitted to enter the temple to make sacrifices for her sins**. In addition, the text tells us that she spent all she’d had on doctors, to no avail. Can you imagine being alone, sick, broke and isolated from God? Have you ever been there? Traveling through life unsure of what tomorrow holds and wondering what’s the point of today? If you have, then you know how easy it can be to give up hope. Yet, this woman persisted. In my mind, I imagine her moving slowly down the road, people staring at her as she passes. Yet, she persisted. Blood running down her legs onto her sandals. Yet, she persisted. Weak with the constant loss of blood, I can see her hunched over as she makes her way to Jesus. Yet, she persisted. Just as she’s about to pass out from exhaustion, she reaches out to touch Jesus’s garment and is instantly made whole.


What’s the issue that’s been plaguing your life for days, weeks, months, years, decades? Have you spent all your time, energy, and resources on that issue, to no avail? Has that issue left you alone? Sick? Broke? Isolated from God? What’s blocking you from reaching out & touching Jesus? Other people? Doubt or fear? Pride? As we read this story, we can learn from this nameless woman of faith. Sick for 12 years, she did not give up – she persisted. She did not let her lack of health, her lack of community, or her lack of money stop her. She knew that Jesus was her only hope for healing. And instead of the ominous obituary above, she reserved a place in the Bible as a woman of faith:


And a woman who was there [in the crowd] who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years…when she heard about Jesus she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched his cloak because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from suffering…He [Jesus] said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” (Mark 5:25-29, 34)


How would your obituary read if you left this life today? Would it be a sad retelling of issues that plagued you to no end or would it be a testimony of persistent faith?



*Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, Luke 8:43-48)
** Leviticus 15:19-30