Who has touched my clothes?

 The Apostles in this Sunday's Gospel reading are surprised when Jesus asks "Who has touched my clothes?" it seems almost absurd to ask such a question when He is being pressed on all sides by a crowd of people. It is perhaps likely that every one around Him has touched Him or has been pushed into Him by the surrounding crowd. Despite the incredulity of His Apostles, Jesus stops and looks around to see who has touched Him. 

I think it's too easy to fall into this mode of reasoning that if Jesus asked a question, then He didn't know the answer. Obviously, the Apostles did this frequently. We are told however in many places in the Gospels that Jesus said things not for Himself but that others might hear it. I think of it as the same thing as when a teacher asks the class a question; it's not as though the teacher doesn't know the answer. A good teacher makes students think. 

I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that maybe Jesus knew all along who touched His clothes. After all; His clothes are not some kind of magic charm. There's no power in that piece of cloth itself. (true, if we had His garment today it would be considered a relic, worthy of veneration) but Jesus is the source of all abundance. Going a step further, I will also suggest that maybe Jesus knowingly chose to heal her in that moment that she touched His garment. 

So why make a point of stopping and asking "who has touched my clothes?" Perhaps the answer is that He asked not for Himself, but for us. Perhaps He asked so that we might know the power of faith - not simply the power of faith itself, and certainly not a false faith in an inanimate object  - but the power of faith in Jesus Christ. Many people touched His clothes in that moment; but only one person touched His clothes believing that they would receive healing from Him; and that she did.

+Theophilus