[size=25pt]My Personal Space[/size]

By C. P. Hia
Luke 8:40-48
We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses. Hebrews 4:15
An industrial design graduate from a Singapore university was challenged in a workshop to come up with a novel solution to a common problem using only ordinary objects. She created a vest to protect one’s personal space from being invaded while traveling in the crush of crowded public trains and buses. The vest was covered with long, flexible plastic spikes normally used to keep birds and cats away from plants.

Jesus knew what it was like to lose His personal space in the commotion of crowds desperate to see and touch Him. A woman who had suffered from constant bleeding for 12 years and could find no cure touched the fringe of His robe. Immediately, her bleeding stopped (Luke 8:43-44).

Jesus’ question, “Who touched me?” (v. 45) isn’t as strange as it sounds. He felt power come out of Him (v. 46). That touch was different from those who merely happened to accidentally touch Him.

While we must admit that we do sometimes wish to keep our personal space and privacy, the only way we help a world of hurting people is to let them get close enough to be touched by the encouragement, comfort, and grace of Christ in us.

Lord Jesus, I want to be near You and know You so that when I’m in contact with others they can see You through me.
A Christian’s life is the window through which others can see Jesus.
Luke recounts several miracles in quick succession. First, Jesus calms a storm while out in a boat on the sea (Luke 8:22–25). Then when the boat reaches the other side of the sea, Jesus heals a man possessed by demons (vv. 26–39). Finally, Luke records that while going to heal the daughter of Jairus, a synagogue leader, Jesus heals a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for years (vv. 40–48). In the end, Jesus brings Jairus’s daughter back to life (vv. 48–56). This series of miracles shows that nothing—nature, spirits, health, even life and death—is outside of Jesus’s power and authority.