S – He fell down at Jesus’s feet and pleaded with him to come to his house, ⁴² because he had an only daughter about twelve years old, and she was dying. 

While he was going, the crowds were nearly crushing him. ⁴³ A woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years, who had spent all she had on doctors and yet could not be healed by any, ⁴⁴ approached from behind and touched the end of his robe. Instantly her bleeding stopped. 

Luke 8:41–44 CSB

O – Commentary:

The official’s daughter had been a minor until that year and on account of both her age and her gender had far less status than her prominent father (vv. 40–41).

8:43. This woman’s sickness was reckoned as if she had a menstrual period all month long; it made her continually unclean under the *law (Lev 15:19–33)—a social problem on top of the physical one. In a culture in which adult women who were not wealthy virtually needed to marry, she was almost certainly unmarried at this point (if she had ever been married), since it violated the law for a man to sleep with her in this condition. Just as Jewish interpreters linked texts by a common phrase, Luke’s source may use “twelve years” to emphasize the relatedness of these stories (vv. 42–43).

 Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Second Edition (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2014), 202.

A – Two people that share the common bond of 12 years.  One was a young girl who enjoyed living in a home of an official but socially unimportant due to her age.  Another, who is of age, but an “outcast” because of an ailment that lasted 12 years. Both were made important and brought close because of a touch of Jesus. No matter your story, Jesus wants to bring you close to him and “touch” that area of your life where you see your true importance to God.

R – Heavenly Father, you are Jehovah Rophe, Our Healer.  We invite you to search us and heal those areas of our lives where we feel unimportant or as an outcast.  We know we are valuable to you.  Please bring healing in our lives today.