The old woman spent all she had down to her last cent,
She had no money left for food, much less her meager rent.
She spent it all on doctors, hoping for a cure,
But she was still suffering in pain. that she knew for sure.
Twelve long years of bleeding, she thought it would never end,
Her neighbors said behind her back, “the cause of it, her sin.”
All her clothes were stained with red, a reminder of her curse,
The doctors couldn’t help her, they only made things worse.
Then one day she heard news of a Healer passing through,
No doctor ever did the things this Man of God could do.
But then a thought occurred to her that dashed her hopes again,
Perhaps this Holy Man of God would also see her curse as sin.
For she had met some Pharisees who held her in contempt,
It broke her heart to think that God would also her resent.
She kept her eyes on the ground in public, folks would stare,
She would not look them in the eye to avoid their evil glare.
But then in desperation, her faith it hatched a plan,
She’d use His healing powers, but not confront the Man.
“If I can sneak behind Him and just touch His Holy cloak,
Then I can rid myself of this bloody curse that left me lonely and broke.
I won’t have to hear His taunts of how I’m such a sinner,
I’ll be healed and on my way, today I’ll be a winner.”
So, she went out that fine day looking for a Savior,
Hoping that today’s the day that God would give her favor.
And when she saw Him, she felt great joy, her eyes began to tear,
Excitement and anxiety and hope were mixed with fear.
Then she went and touched His garment before He got away,
And instantly she was healed, oh what a happy day.
But the Doctor stopped dead in His tracks, “Who touched me from behind?”
And Peter said, “Which one of these, has touched you where, which time?”
Jesus said, “Power has gone out from me, from someone in this crowd.”
And then she fell down at His feet and confessed to all out loud.
He told her to go in peace for her faith had made her whole,
After all her years of suffering she finally made her goal.
Now don’t we do the same thing, chasing dead end streets,
And nothing ever works till Jesus we do meet.
We sneak up quietly behind Him, in hopes to find a cure,
Cause we are lowly sinners, and He is oh so pure.
But He does not look down on us, although He probably should,
And gives us loving kindness, trades our evil for His good.
No one who reached out and touched Him ever was the same,
For He can heal the broken soul and erase all guilt and shame.
Seek Him in desperation, seek Him with your faith,
And the power that He has, will heal you by His grace.
For you will go in peace, like this woman long ago,
And yes, He has healed my shattered soul, this is how I know.
Tertius
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.
Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Mark 5:34
A Note about “Desperate Faith”: I’ve read that story many times, but the time I read it before writing this it almost jumped off the page. How many people spend all they have trying to fix a “soul sickness.” All being worse after the fact than better. I never realized the significance of her reaching out and touching Jesus’ robe rather than confronting Him like everyone else did. I speculate that people thought her condition was due to her sin (like Job’s friends) and she did not want another “religious” person looking down their nose at her. She probably heard this Miracle Worker was a Man of God and assumed He would be another condescending Pharisee. She soon found out this Man who was God, to be merciful, compassionate and full of Love.