Verse twelve tells us that Jesus “went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God”. Then, the next day, together with his followers, he came down to a level place where a great multitude of people was waiting for him. They came to hear him and to touch him.
This is an amazing scene. I often think about it and try to picture it in my mind. People coming from all directions. People coming to ‘hear him’ and to ‘touch him’. People with questions and people with needs. Just think for a moment on the words “…the whole multitude sought to touch him, for power went out from him and healed them all”.
The word ‘power’ here is the same as in Acts 1 v8. Jesus commanded his chosen apostles to wait at Jerusalem for the Father’s promise, and they would receive ‘power from on high’. Our word ‘dynamite’ comes from this same word, but it is not destructive power; it is compassionate, loving, and caring power. It is a healing power, a liberating power, an overcoming power that comes from heaven.
This was the power that the needy multitude felt when they came near Jesus. And it is this same power that fills and energises the body of Christ that is alive and filling the earth today. Together, as the body of Christ, power can flow from our fellowship. Praise God! He “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”.
Be blessed and encouraged. In the body of Christ, none of us is insignificant nor alone. We are all part of the “us”! We are chosen, called, equipped and empowered, to minister Christ’s love and grace, so that through our fellowship-life people may see him, hear him, and touch him.
Be blessed.
Eddie