In most cases things work in reverse. The disease contaminates that which it contacts. Only Jesus is different. Contact with him heals the hemorrhaging woman. His touch is even enough to raise the dead.
When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand,
and the little girl arose.
The reason for this is that in Jesus we encounter God himself. When we touch him we discover that we are touching the stairway between heaven and earth, with angels ascending and descending.
Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the ground,
with its top reaching to the heavens;
and God's messengers were going up and down on it.
He is not merely one point of access. He is the ladder, the bridge, or the stairway itself. All access is through him. To touch him is to experience the truth of it directly.
And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
The woman and the official are not afraid to seek out this touch. We must be bold in seeking it as well. But is seeking it even possible now that Jesus has ascended to the Father? It must be. He tells us that it is better that he goes. It is better that he goes because, as he promises, he is with us always, now in an even deeper and more personal way. If the official and the woman can touch Jesus, how much more can we? Though like Jacob, we often don't realize just how present God is to us.
"Truly, the LORD is in this spot, although I did not know it!"
In solemn wonder he cried out: "How awesome is this shrine!
This is nothing else but an abode of God,
and that is the gateway to heaven!"
In the Church we find the abode of God. We hear such things and take them for granted as mere hyperbole. But the flesh of Jesus in the bread of communion is present in the Church. And we touch him here more intimately than anything the woman or the official would dare to imagine. So we too must be bold when we come forward to touch him. We should bring with us at least the level of expectant faith that the woman and the official have. They believe that the touch of Jesus will change them. Do we believe it?
Because he clings to me, I will deliver him;
I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in distress.
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