How to Get the Attention of God

Orletta E Caldwell
Mark 5:21-43 (NIV)
21When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet23and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31″You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
35While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?”
36Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” ). 42Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Jesus had had a full itinerary in today’s script. He had healed a possessed man from a legion of demons and was on his way to heal Jarius’ daughter. The Bible indicates that there was a huge crowd and it was jam-packed.

Though His schedule was full, a “by the way” moment occurs that is one of the greatest examples of faith illustrated in the Bible. This seemingly insignificant footnote has been spoken of frequently and has been the subject of many great gospel hits. The subject: The Woman with the Issue of Blood.

Why is she so heralded for so small a gesture? Because she had enough faith to get the attention of God! This nameless woman spent all of her money seeking to alleviate her failing health. She was probably physically drained from being in pain and emotionally drained from being ostracized from others around her. There’s no mention of a husband, but I am sure he checked out mentally, if not physically, a long time ago. In all of this despair and hopelessness most of us would have been in bed feeling sorry for ourselves, with justification. Not this woman. She was on a quest. In desperation and determination; she found Jesus, pressed through the crowd and thought, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

At the very moment she did so, Jesus stopped and asked “Who touched me”. This appears in the text, a “dumb” question, in light of the size of the crowd. The identity of the woman however was revealed and she received her healing that day.

Joe Hunt, Social Entrepreneur wrote that an Idealist is a person who believes “Everything is possible; the impossible just takes a little longer”. How do you get the attention of God…have faith that “Everything is possible; the impossible just takes a little longer.”

Orletta E Caldwell
St. Stephen AME
Detroit, Michigan