Mark 5:25-34 (NIV)
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. [26] She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. [27] When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, [28] because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” [29] Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. [30] At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” [31] “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, `Who touched me?’ ” [32] But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. [33] Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. [34] He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Jesus lived his life for me, for you. A sceptic reading Mark would shrug and say that Mark crafted this story. I believe Jesus crafted it. Every detail matters–in the story, in his life, in out lives. Nothing is accidental.

I think about those 12 years of waiting. Jesus was there–in Israel, alive in the world–he was on his way to her.

I have lived through a number of chronic conditions. Pain, illness, suffering, grief without a quick-ish resolution is terrible. You live with the pain of today and the dreadful fear of all those tomorrow. What if it gets worse? What if it never stops?

The definition of unending suffering is hell.

The Bible tells us this woman’s condition was getting worse. Imagine her mixture of hope and fear when she heard about Jesus, as she pushed through the crowd toward him.

Jesus heals her automatically.. His power is abundant. He stops everything to talk to her because he loves her.

The gift of his love, his gaze, is more precious even than her restored health and freedom.