Daughter, Your faith has healed you....

Luke 8: 40-48

There are two stories of how faith was rewarded in this passage. This week I think we will focus on Luke 8:40-48 Here is a summary if you have not read the passage.

The Woman who had an issue of Blood....

In this story, Jesus was actually on his way to Jarius' house and the crowds were so thick around him that they were almost crushing him. A woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched his cloak. Immediately her bleeding stopped.

"Who touched me?" Jesus asked. Peter told him that all of the people were crowding and pressing against him. But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me." Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all of the people she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you, go in peace."

Discussion:

1. This woman must have had tremendous faith that Jesus would heal her. It is one of the only times where I can remember Jesus not know who he had healed...sort of indirectly happening. Almost not necessarily willed by the humanity of Jesus but by his spiritual conscientiousness and power. Jesus admits that he has felt that power had gone out of him, but wants to know to whom. It made me think of the Holy Spirit and how he pleads for us even when we cannot do it for ourselves. How he intercedes for us. What are your thoughts on this?

2. When the woman admits to the crowd that she had had and issue with bleeding, if they did not know, this must have been a bit embarrassing for her. She was so brave and willing to proclaim what Jesus had done for her. Are we generally this willing to share what has happened in our lives through our faith experiences? It seems like in that time, she would have really been, "putting herself out there for humiliation" as far as how society viewed women. What are your thoughts on this?

Reading for next week:

Luke 8:49-56

Hannah, A Woman of Faith

I Samuel 1-2:11---Please read this on your own, but this summarizes.

Hannah is a barren woman. She continues to ask the Lord to give her a child. Hannah tells the Lord that if he gives her a son, that she will give him back to the Lord to serve him all of the days of his life. The Lord gives Hannah a son, and she in return does what she promised. She gives takes him to the house of the Lord as soon as he was weaned and leaves him with the priests to serve God.

Discussion:

• Can you relate to this story? Please share.
• Do you think you would have kept your end of the deal in the end?
• How did Hannah's faith lead her actions?
• How does this story affect you today?

I can relate to this story, I told my husband earlier this week that we should have named our oldest son Benjamin, Samuel...because as you will find in the reading, Hannah named her son Samuel, because she asked the Lord for him. The Hebrew translation of Samuel is."heard of God."

My husband and I tried for 16 months to have our first child...while that may not be long compared to many people, it seemed long to us. Of course, everyone we knew was getting pregnant and having children. After a year, we conceived and lost a baby. This was really hard on us. After this happened, I just kept praying, and it dawned on me that God had a specific little life that he was waiting for..a child whom He already knew and had planned...and for some reason, I was at peace with that, and not as sad about things...then finally after we were really at peace with things, we conceived our son Ben. Such a challenge and such a blessing! Full knowing that God has a plan for his little life! As I have read this story, I am so impressed with Hannah, re-reading it as a mother, I am so impressed with the fact that she was able to let him go, away from her, and back to serve God. It was her faith and courage that led his outcome of being the first Judge of Israel, and such a faithful leader for God. I have tried to think of other stories in the bible where someone asks for child, and God hears their prayers, and after a time of faith, he blesses them. Here are some other people I thought of:

Elizabeth, in the New Testament, wife of Zechariah, mother of John the Baptist,

Sarah, in the Old Testament, Abraham's wife, Issac's mother, Jacob's grandmother.

Rachel, in the Old Testament, Jacob's wife, mother of Joseph and Benjamin

The consensus that I came to was that the Lord hears the prayers of a faithful women, and after enduring the wait, he bestows his blessings in ways we could never have imagined. Although it must have been hard for Hannah to give Samuel up, the Lord did bless her with more children...and I have to say, I cannot even imagine how proud she must have been of her little boy as he grew and became such a great man of God.

Next week: Luke 8:40-56

According to your faith, it will be done to you...

Matthew 9:27-31

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they replied.
Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.


Discussion:
This is a small passage, but I think it holds so much wisdom from Jesus. Such a lesson about faith..."Blind Faith"....no pun intended! It can be looked at literally, because the men were actually void of sight, or figuratively, from a perspective of the men being void of "sight" which could be the wisdom of a correct path or perspective.

1. How much faith do you have that God will follow through with something when you ask it from him?
2. How often do we forget to ask, until a task or a problem is already in motion?
3. In this passage it seems that Jesus was not sure it was time for him for word to "get out" so to speak. Do you feel that there is ever a time to "keep quiet" for awhile about a prayer that has been answered for us? If so, what would kind of situation would that be?

Next weeks reading....

I Samuel Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 vs. 1-11.

Have a great week!

CB