Reversing the "C"s... Changes Everything

For whatever reason,  in times past it seems that I have read this story with more of a condemning, accusatory tone.

For whatever reason, this time around I read it with more of a compassionate, concerned tone...

And it changed everything...
~~~~~

(Background Info:  Jesus is on his way to heal a dying 12 year old girl when this story takes place.)

A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse.

She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.

Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask,'Who touched me?’ But he kept on looking around to see who had done it.

Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done.And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.   ~Mark 5:25-34 (NLT)

Listen:
Said in more of a condemning, accusatory tone...
"Who Touched Me?"

Said in more of a compassionate, concerned tone...
"Who Touched Me?"

Do you hear the difference as I did?

Was it that He really didn't know who touched Him?  Or was it that perhaps He wanted her to encounter so much more than just her healing. (which the passage says she received immediately.)

What if it was to encounter the Healer, not just the healing. To encounter the Giver, not just the gift.

Was it that He really didn't know who touched Him?  Or was it that perhaps He wanted to connect her to HIM!  Surely with her physical condition she had been on outcast for years.  What if His stopping and inquiring was for her to be noticed.  To be affirmed in who she was.  To be loved.

~ Did you notice how he addressed her?  Not woman, or lady, or....

No!  Rather... "Daughter"

"Does God seem to be on His way to another need, one you may perceive to be more important than yours?  No problem!  Reach out and grab that hem!  You are not going unnoticed- not even if He's on His way to raise the dead."  ~Beth Moore

Yes, when I reverse the "C" from Condemnation to Compassion... it changes everything...


What else do you see?...