Sunday/"Who touched my clothes?"

 

            Sunday/"Who touched my clothes?"

God did not make death,
    nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.--The Book of Wisdom

In today's gospel, Christ raises a child from the dead. While astonishing, an equally astonishing event occurs in the folds of the story, the curing of the woman who suffered from hemorrhage and "had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors." She approaches Christ in the crowd.

'She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.”
Immediately her flow of blood dried up.
She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him,
turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?”'

What is happening here? In a crowd, a lot of people are probably touching his clothes. Typically, this passage is taught as Christ calling attention to the event, emphasizing the importance of approaching God with faith.


This could be a very disturbing passage. Christ is on the way to raise a girl from the dead and the entourage is interrupted by this woman and the Son of God asks, "Who touched my clothes?" "Power had gone out from him?" It is as if Christ, who is about to raise a dead person and violate a universal law of life, has to ask questions about his immediate surroundings, the man who tells the future does not know the present. And this "power" did not just heal her, it sought her.


The point here is Faith. But there is more implied: the duality of Christ and the positive nature of his power, all in this small incident. Then Christ goes and performs the big event.