WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path’ (Psalm 119:105, NIV). Desperate This poor woman was desperate. She had suffered for 12 long years and the people who should have helped relieve her suffering had only added to it (v 26), impoverishing her in the process. She had lived with the demands of the ceremonial cleanliness laws set out in Leviticus 15, which isolated her from human touch, fellowship and friendship. She wasn’t even able to sit down in public without making a bench or chair ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15:26). Set free Yet desperate people do desperate things. She would have known that her pushing through this large crowd would have made anyone who brushed against her ceremonially unclean. So when Jesus challenged the person who had touched his clothes (v 30), she had every reason to be afraid (v 33). But Jesus wasn’t angry or afraid of becoming unclean – he is greater than any disease or infection. Yesterday’s study saw Jesus free a man from demons that had ensnared him. Today we see a woman set free by Jesus as she took a risk and simply reached out to touch him. Can you see the pattern? Jesus sets people free. And he’s still in the people-freeing business today. Respond: This woman did all the wrong things, yet she stretched out to Jesus in faith and he healed her. What do you need to reach out to Jesus for today? Do it now in faith that he will answer. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-06-19