Your Faith Has Saved You!

"Then a woman, who had suffered from a severe bleeding for twelve years, came up from behind and touched the edge of HIS cloak; for she thought, 'If I only touch HIS cloak, I will be healed.'  JESUS turned, saw her and said, 'Courage, MY daughter, your faith has saved you.'  And from that moment, the woman was cured." - Matthew 9:20-22 

(She touched the edge of HIS cloak.  As a good Jew, JESUS had fringes on HIS cloak [Numbers 15:38; Matthew 23:5].

The woman was considered by the Jews as unclean because of her illness [Leviticus 15:19].  She would also make "unclean" anyone who touched her.  Because of this, she was prohibited by the law from mingling with others but dared enter into the crowd, and touch JESUS' cloak.

Faith drove her to break the law of "purification," and to risk scandal.  This woman did not know who JESUS was, but had faith that GOD would cure her through HIM.

The religiosity of this woman is akin to what we call today "popular Catholicism."  As seen in this woman, popular Catholicism is ill-instructed, yet shows a strong religious sense and trust in GOD.  It is superficial and naïve, expecting great results from touching images and religious things--CHRIST's garment in this case.  Like JESUS, we should respect the religious expressions of popular Catholicism while at the same time trying, like HIM, to help people discover deeper dimensions of their faith.)

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