How Deep is Your Faith?

“If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.”

Matthew 9:21

Just recently we heard Mark’s account of Jairus’ daughter and the woman who suffered from hemorrhages, and today we hear Matthew’s account of it. Both people were desperate and were hoping against all hope, but they hoped not in some magic or wishful thinking. They hoped in someone. They hoped in Jesus Christ. They hoped in Him because they knew that He could save them. That’s the difference between hoping and wishing. When we hope, we do so with faith, knowing that God hears us and knows what we need. When we wish, we just cross our fingers and hope somehow, some way whatever problem we are in will resolve itself. As Christians, we hope in Christ because we know that He has also conquered death and evil.

The woman who suffered from hemorrhages for 12 years was desperate. She tried everything. Mark tells us that she spent all her money seeing doctors but to no avail. She had no more money, she was still bleeding, and yet the one thing she still had was hope and faith in Jesus. She believed and knew without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus could save her. How ironic is it that those who should have been able to help her took her money but yet could not, but the One who did heal her and save her was no physician and did so without charge. True healing, the healing that we need, that sets our souls free is always free. It is God’s gift to us. But the question is, do we want it? The woman believed that if she only touched the cloak of Jesus, she would be healed. How deep is our faith? I leave you with the words Jesus told Jairus, the synagogue official, (see Mk. 5:21ff): “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”