Singled Out

Mark 5:31 -- "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask 'who touched me?' "

The insides of my palms were clamming up and a large lump was forming in in the back of my throat. I could feel the air around me start to disappear and my heart was knocking so loudly inside my chest that I was sure those pressed in against me could actually hear it. My vision started narrowing and I could only make out the images that stayed within it's thin funnel. The lights were just about to go out in my head when my ears started to ring a bit. My sister quickly registered what was about to happen and saved the day by leading me up and over the bleacher railings away from the crowd. Just the thought of getting out and away from the "sardine run" into the stadium made my head start to clear and I began to breath a little easier.

We were stopped by stadium "security" who informed us that their insurance did not cover people climbing up over the bleacher railing. Karla quickly said something like "does it cover my sister passing out and getting trampled by all these people?" We were then "allowed" to keep climbing and in short order were sitting with our husbands in the cooling night air, watching the mass of people struggle to find their own seats. It from this calmer perspective that we awaited Billy Graham to take the stage.

The thing is, before we were in calmer waters, I couldn't have told you my sister had her hand on the back of my arm. I couldn't have told you that Steven was trying to guide me and keep me clam by holding my hand. There just wasn't any way I could discern one sensation from another as the huge crowd pressed in all around me. I couldn't focus.

In Mark 5:31 it amazes me that as Jesus was pressing his way through crowds he knew immediately when an ailing woman reached out for his robes. He singled her out and felt the power leave his body when she clung to her only hope of being well again. He was aware of her pain and her need in the middle of hundreds of other hands and arms. I just can't imagine that! I think his disciples were of my frame of mind when Jesus turned and asked "who touched me?". They probably thought it was a joke, at first. How could he be asking that in the middle of all these people?

But Jesus wasn't kidding. He was very aware of the one woman who reached out to him in desperate need. He knew her individually, personally, and specifically in a sea of other humans.

He still does that. He knows each of us though we may stand in the middle of a raging crowd. He is very aware of our heart-aches and deep needs. We may feel lost in a herd of equally searching souls, but Jesus can single us out. He feels us keenly as we reach for him in hope and in faith.

There is great, great comfort in that.