In this instance, Jesus arrives and people recognize him.  Because they recognized him they go and get all the sick people and, get this, they don't ask Jesus to heal them, but ask him to just allow the sick people to touch him.  And what happens?  EVERY sick person who touches him is healed and made well.

So I see a couple lessons here.  First, when it comes to people who need Jesus, our family, our friends, we can only do so much.  We can only make sure that they're in the right position and that they have the opportunity to touch and have a life-changing encounter with Jesus.  I know the text doesn't say this, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were people there who, for whatever reason, didn't reach out and touch Jesus.  And guess what?  They didn't get healed.  It's not their friend's or family's fault though.  It was their choice, their loss, their decision.

The second thing is, Jesus loves you but he doesn't work for you.  Too many times I've seen and heard stories of well-intentioned believers who would pray and implore Jesus to "change them" but wouldn't take any responsibility to change themselves.  They struggle with lust, drugs, alcohol, laziness, anger, gluttony, impatience or any number of things and pray and ask God to "fix" them or "change" them.  Yet the whole time, they think it's completely God's responsibility and they're either powerless or unnecessary.  Wrong.  Jesus has the power to change lives, but there are plenty of times he expects you to make the first move.  He's there, he's waiting, he's willing.....what's your excuse?

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