Unnoticed

A lot can happen in 12 years. It’s long enough for an infant to grow into an adolescent. Long enough for a freshman to finish college and become a medical doctor. Long enough for a sapling to become a full-grown tree.

And it’s a long time to suffer.

Such was the plight of an unnamed woman who came seeking help from Jesus. For 12 years she had suffered physically. Steady bleeding left her weak, anemic, and miserable. No doubt she suffered emotionally, for her embarrassing condition complicated her ability to enjoy a normal relationship with a husband or with friends. She endured financial hardship, for “she had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse” (Mark 5:26). And she suffered spiritually, for her condition made her ceremonially unclean under the Law of Moses (Leviticus 15:25-27).

For 12 years her life was falling apart, but it only took a moment for everything to change. With determination fueled by desperation, she pressed through the crowd and stretched her hand toward Jesus. When she touched the edge of his cloak, immediately her bleeding stopped.

Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” and Peter pointed out the obvious: lots of people were crowding and pressing against the Master. “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 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’” (Luke 8:43-47, emphasis mine).

It’s interesting that the woman “could not go unnoticed.” Perhaps she had hoped to receive a blessing and steal away without any public attention, but Jesus brought her healing out into the open. Tenderly he called her “Daughter”—the only time the New Testament mentions that he referred to a woman that way. After 12 long years when doctors couldn’t make her well and neighbors shunned her, in the presence of Christ her plight did not go unnoticed. Others might not care, but she mattered to him. No one else could help, but he made her whole again.

He notices other women, too. The aging mother whose loved ones seldom visit or call.

The single mom who rears her children alone. The widow who misses her husband and the good life they enjoyed together. The young woman whose soldier husband is serving in Afghanistan. The ailing woman whose failing health prevents her from being the active church member and neighbor she would like to be. The woman who suffers unfair treatment at work, or who struggles to make ends meet on a fixed income. The unheralded mom who simply loves her kids and keeps her home in order without fanfare and while receiving little appreciation.

These women do not escape the Lord’s notice. He noticed the woman who wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair (Luke 7:36-38). He noticed the women who generously supported his ministry out of their own means (Luke 8:2-3). He noticed the poor widow who gave all she had to the temple treasury (Luke 21:1-4). He noticed his own mother and spoke words of love for her from the cross (John 19:26-27).

There are women in our lives who suffer and need comfort, who serve and deserve our thanks, who love and should be loved in return.

Have we noticed?