Sneaking Up On Jesus

I hate crowds – the jostling, the noise, the sense of being herded in directions I might not want to go and the frustration of not being able to proceed at my own pace. It’s no wonder Jesus’ disciples were a bit sarcastic when He once asked the crush of bodies knocking Him around in a Judean crowd, “Who touched my clothes?” (Mark 5:21-43).

As it happened, Jesus was in this crowd only because He was on His way to heal the feverish daughter of a synagogue ruler who pleaded that Jesus have mercy on his dying child. Mark likes to tell his stories about Jesus like sandwiches – one story sandwiched in the middle of another – kind of like Jesus was sandwiched in this crowd.

“You see the people crowding against you,” His disciples sarcastically answered, “and yet You can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

Yes, that’s exactly what Jesus could ask. He could ask because He’d felt something quite different from the normal collisions of shoulders and elbows and sandals and hips and thighs. He’d felt that “power had gone out from Him” (verse 30). He’d sensed that someone had touched His clothes with a definite purpose in mind, a definite need, and that this person had done so believing that through this act God would give deliverance. And indeed God had.

Mark fills in the story for us, even though at the time the disciples were in the dark about what had happened. It seems that a woman had been suffering from debilitating menstrual hemorrhaging for 12 years. This woman had spent everything on doctors to try to find a cure, and they had done nothing but make her problem worse. Now she was out of options, but that’s when she heard that Jesus was coming to town. She decided that if she could just touch His clothes, she would be healed. So she bored her way through the sweaty bodies, came up behind Jesus and touched His cloak. Instantly the bleeding stopped, and her suffering was over.

The mustard from Mark’s sandwich of two stories begins to leak over onto both slices of bread at this point. Jairus, the synagogue ruler, was not afraid to walk right up to Jesus, fall at Jesus’ feet and plead for the daughter he loved. But the sick woman was different. She was just as determined and just as believing as Jairus in Jesus’ power to save. But she was too afraid to approach this mysterious man of God head on. Unlike Jairus, she sneaked up behind Jesus, flicked a finger across the wrinkles of His robe and sunk back into the anonymity of the crowd.

But despite her fear, despite her low opinion of herself, maybe because of her status as a woman, but even more likely because of her status as unclean because of the purity laws about menstrual flow, Jesus noticed her. And He called her to Him. And He called her daughter.

Meanwhile, Jairus’ daughter died, and the messengers of this news told Jairus not to bother Jesus anymore about it – after all, it was too late. But Jesus ignored them. He went straight to Jairus’ house and despite the scorn and disbelief at His statement that the girl was not dead but only sleeping, He took her by the hand and gave her back her life and Jairus back his daughter.

Let’s consider this sandwich of stories. When Jesus of Nazareth was on this earth, the only way that He could be approached was EXTERNALLY – either boldly from the front as Jairus did or sneakily from the back as the woman did. But Jesus’ death and resurrection changed all that.

This is now New Covenant time and by calling on Christ as Savior and Lord a wonderfully miraculous thing happens – we are born again with a new divine nature and with the risen Jesus Christ coming to live right within us INTERNALLY in a living union of human spirit to divine Spirit.

The relationship with Jesus changes from an external, Jesus near us, condition as in the gospels to an internal, Jesus IN US, condition in our life as a Christian. This, of necessity, causes a change in how we approach our relationship with Him.

In my earlier years as an immature Christian, I approached Jesus as external from me and I tried it both ways. I got bold and even angry at times trying to establish a relationship with Him. At other times I felt guilty and unworthy of His attention and I sneaked up on Him from the back hoping for whatever I could get from Him.

He understood my immaturity but didn’t want me to stay that way. One day, as I was reading Galatians 2:20, I got the message:
“Lou, quit seeing Me as external to you. The whole reason that you are a son of God now is that I am living in you in an INTERNAL union. This is the key element of your salvation. From now on just think of yourself as being Me! Sounds radical doesn’t it. Of course there is a duality in our union – you can never become THE Son of God but you are A son of God because I live in you. Wherever you go, I go. Whatever you do, I do. I’m not leaving you for any reason. When you keep this perspective, you will have a new power over sin – My power! You’ve been calling on Me to come from somewhere and assist you in fighting off sin. But this fight has to be ALL ME IN YOU! There’s nothing in your soul or body to resist sin – the power has to come from My Spirit input. In fact a good way to look at sin is that it is anything that you do with an independent attitude. Just remember that I am in you always and you will be well on your way to maturity as a child of God.”

Jesus doesn’t care who you are. He doesn’t care if you’re timid and shy, young or old, a leader or an outcast. He knows you, loves you, cares about your needs, fears, crises, and He is ready to be the power in your weakness.

As a Christian, now that He lives in you, He listens to your up-front, head-on pleas, and He senses hopeful hearts at the back of the line and behind the door. Your personality, your temperament, your status, not even (especially) your sinful history can erect a barrier He can’t bring down like the walls of Jericho.

What’s your need? What’s your crisis? What’s your fear? Take it to Jesus in whatever way works for you, but always on an internal basis. Approach Him in your spirit boldly from the front or sneak up on Him from His back. Either way He will end up on your side! And He’s always going to be there – in you for salvation, as you and through you as you allow Him.

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