Reach Anyway

Intro: 

Today, I want to ask you a question that cuts straight to the heart of the human experience.

What do you do when you’ve run out of options? Where do you turn when your strength, your finances, your patience, and your hope have completely run dry?

I want to tell you about a woman today. We don't know her name. Luke doesn't give it to us. Mark doesn't give it to us. And I think that's on purpose, because in some way, she's every one of us who has ever carried something we didn't know how to say out loud.

God is calling you to a decision. He is calling you to stop managing your pain and start bringing it to the only One with the authority to heal it. 

Turn with me to Luke 8:43. It says, "And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone."

Body( Three point outline ) 

Pont 1:Long standing suffering Does Not  define your final destination. 

Our story begins in the heavy shadows of chronic, long term suffering Luke tells us that the women has been bleeding for twelve long years . Twelve years. Let that number sit with you for a second. Twelve years is long enough to watch a child grow from birth into becoming a teenager. It's long enough to move houses, change jobs, lose people, gain people, and still  (STILL ) wake up every single day to the same condition. The same bleeding. The same weakness. The same shame. 

In the ancient world this wasn’t just a medical crisis,  If we look at the jewish law  as it says in  Leviticus 15 ( go read in own timing)  A women with a discharge of blood was  considered ceremonially unclean. Not just her but anyone she touched, anything she touched , sat on, anywhere she walked. For twelve years she could not sit at a table and share a meal, embrace her family without making them unclean too. She was for all practical purposes Invisible, untouchable. Can you Imagine that kind of isolation?  Not just being sick But being sick in away that separated you from everyone you love ? 

This women was apart of a culture that says “ stay away , Don’t touch, don’t get close” 

And for twelve years she heard some form of that spoken or unspoken from the world around her. 

Luke adds in a painful detail She had spent all her money on doctors  and yet no one could heal her she only got worse. She threw all she had at her problem and it only left her broke and broken. 

how many of us are sitting here today in a twelve-year season of our own? Maybe it’s not physical blood. Maybe it’s a twelve-year marriage that has felt dead and dry. Maybe it’s a decades-long battle with depression, anxiety, or addiction. You’ve tried everything trying to fix it, but you only feel worse. 

Hear me clearly  Do not assume that a long season of struggle means God has forgotten you. Chronic hardships have a way of exhausting our human resources 

But they do so to clarify our ultimate need for Jesus. 

I want you to notice this she didn’t stay locked in her isolation, she heard Jesus was coming and she moved from passively waiting to actively pursuing 

Point 2: Active faith breaks Through “our crowds”. 

Lets look at verse 44 its says “ she came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased” 

This verse moves fast but  if we slow down we realize that what happened in that moment was anything but simple. 

So picture this scene Jesus was on his way to heal the daughter of a powerful synagogue leader, the crowds are pressing  in on Jesus from every side , shoving and suffocating one another. Remember she is ceremonially unclean. That means, by the law of her culture, she is not supposed to be anywhere near this crowd if she touches you, you become unclean too. not a woman casually strolling up and giving Jesus a friendly tap on the shoulder. This is a woman who has calculated the risk. She has thought it through. If anyone recognizes her they could  have driven her away there could be public shame, there could be consequences, there could be people pulling away from her in disgust right there in front of everyone.

But she Does it anyways. To understand the weight of what she does we have to look closer at what she was targeting. The verse tells us that she reached out to touch the “Fringe of his Garment”  In Hebrew the word “Fringe” is called Tzitzit. According to the law in numbers 15 ( read on own time ) Every jewish man was commanded to wear these tassels on the four corners of his outer garment, that was woven with a rare  blue thread as a visual and constant reminder of God holy commandments. Now looking at the Hebrew word for the “Corners” of his garment where the tassells hung  is Kanaf this word translates interchangeably to both corners and wings.  This means that the women wasn’t racing out for some piece of loose fabric out of a superstition, this shows  She knew her scripture. There was a prophecy from Malachi 4:2 ( read on own) that promised when the messiah came “ the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings ( kanaf). The women was intentionally reaching through the dirt and noise to touch the exact spot  where the messiah’s healing. Authority was prophesied to rest. 

Active faith requires breaking through the crowd. and sometimes the crowd isn’t people but your own doubts, its past mistakes. If you want to experience God you have tp press through the noise, past your comfort zones, we have tp get on our knees in prayer. Faith isn’t just believing Jesus can do it Faith is reaching out to ensure you trust him. 

And the moment her fingers grazed the Fringe of his garment something shifted. It reminds us that our God responds instantly to the cry of faith. 

Point 3: our healing is found in Jesus, Not in the perfection of our approach. 

Let Look at how she approached Jesus , she does not stand in front of him and give a beautifully articulated prayer, she didn’t have a perfect plan. What she does is she sneaks up from behind him, silent and terrified and she reached for just the fringe of his garment. It was  a messy, imperfect, and desperate approach. 

In the ancient times again the hem  ( Fringe) and the tassels of a robe where a persons cultural identification card. The length of the tassels indicated a persons stratus, wealth and authority.  By the women with the issue of blood grading the fringe of his garment she was completely surrendering to and invoking  the absolute, royal authority of Jesus. 

The verse tells us that she was immediately healed, the discharge of blood ceased. The healing didn’t come because she had a perfect strategy or even because the fringe its self But because she touched a perfect savior who held ultimate authority over her sickness. 

 Now lets look at what happens next  jesus stops everything. The Crowd is moving, Jairus’s daughter is dying , time is ticking, But Jesus stops and says “ Who touched me ?

Peter then looks at him and says “Master the crowds surround you and  are pressing in” 

Through was a crowd of people surrounding Jesus that day but only one person touched him with faith.  Jesus stopped not only for public confession, But because he refused to let her remain a hidden ,He wanted to look her in the eye, call her "Daughter," and give her emotional and spiritual peace to match her physical healing. He wanted everyone to know that he had restored her and not just spiritually but physically and culturally. 

Sometime we hold back from God because we think our faith isn’t strong enough or our prayers aren’t eloquent enough or our lives our to messy, we think we have to clean ourselves up before we come to the alter. But our confidence isnt  in having a flawless, perfect faith. But in the absolute authority, and power of the one we touch. Jesus don’t need us us to be strong he just needs us to be willing to reach out. He sees you in the middle of the crowd, and he’s waiting for that touch of faith. 

Lets connect this truth directly to our hearts as we close 

Conclusion & call to response :

Every single person listening today is like someone in that scripture. Some of us are like the  crowd, we are close to Jesus we go to church, we sing the songs, we “bump into him” every Sunday, But many of us have never actually reached out in desperate personal faith to let him change our lives. And others of us are exactly like this woman, exhausted, were tired of fighting the same battle, we’ve ran out of strength, ran out of money, ran out  of answers. Today you face a decision. Will you keep managing your pain alone, or will you decide to press through  the crowd of your fears , your battle whatever it may be ? 

The messiah has arrived and there is healing in his wings. I am calling you to accept His words today and to respond  to the holy spirt , If you need healing if you need peace that only the savior can provide , if you need salvation. Do not leave this place the same way you came in Reach out to Jesus in Faith right now and watch his power change your story forever. 

Now Let us pray

Heavenly Father,

Today we come before You just as we are.

Some of us have been carrying pain for a long time. Some are tired, discouraged, and wondering if anything will ever change. But today we choose to reach anyway.

Lord, give us the faith to press through every fear, every doubt, every disappointment, and every obstacle that keeps us from You.

Remind us that our hope is not found in our own strength but in Your power. Thank You that You still see us in the middle of the crowd. Thank You that You know our names, our struggles, and our hearts.

Jesus, we reach for You today. Heal what is broken. Restore what has been lost. Bring peace where there has been anxiety, hope where there has been despair, and freedom where there has been bondage.

For those who have never surrendered their lives to You, may today be the day they place their faith in You as Lord and Savior. Help them trust that Your grace is greater than their past and Your love is stronger than their shame.

As we leave this place, let us not return to managing our pain alone. Give us the courage to keep reaching for You, believing that You are still the God who heals, restores, and makes all things new.

We ask all of this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.