“Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me” (Luke 8:46).

With crowds pressing in, the Lord Jesus was on His way to restore a young girl. But the need of another temporarily intervened. A woman reached out “and touched the border of His garment” (v.44) and was healed immediately. The young girl was also eventually restored (v.54), but it is worth reflecting on our Lord’s healing in this verse.

“Somebody,” He said, “hath touched me.” The disciples informed Him that multitudes were pressing in on Him, but the Lord perceived that virtue (power) had left Him to meet an individual need. He, “the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6), addressed her personally: “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace” (v.48).

The great Shepherd knows His sheep individually. He cares for us while we sleep. He gives us strength day by day, “and by Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17).

When our Lord was on the cross, He was not dying for a vague human conglomerate. He was dying for Peter, James, John, and all other individuals. To be sure, these all comprise, collectively, His church, but this body “fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16).

Could it be that when our Lord was on that cross, He perceived virtue going out from Him for each individual believer reading these words and for all His sheep individually down through the ages? If so, then what a wonderful Savior we have! He knows our names. He died for us individually back then and intercedes individually for us now (Hebrews 7:25). PGH