You from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretely; but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.” The projection toward future has been declared. The path the Lord wants for David has been shown. It is sort of punishment but on the other hand it contents the message that nobody is allowed of violating the commandments, not even the own king of Israel. David recognizes his fault in front of the Lord: “I have sinned against the Lord.” David understood and his clear repentance is a sign of it. “Nathan said to David: Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.”
In the second passage –Mark 5:24-34- the divine truth is revealed by Jesus. There was this woman who had been suffering hemorrhages for twelve years. No physician could heal her. Probably she had heard about this Jesus and now she was in the same crowd with him. “If I touch his cloak I will be made well.” She had faith in the fact that Jesus could heal her. And she touched his cloak and she was healed. But Jesus felt her faith: “Who touched my clothes.” And she came trembling but Jesus had to award her faith: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease.”
This is a small passage in the whole story of salvation. The name of the woman is not even registered. However, it is clear the fact that our faith can save us, our faith plus the action of touching Jesus cloak knowing that he can heal us. This truth is revealed by the same Jesus in his own words. Nobody knows what happened to that woman afterwards but what we know is much more important: She was healed.
Both passages show revelation and ways to know about it. David, the great king of Israel and his sin that is forgiven and this woman whose name nobody knows are the same in front of God’s eyes. God cares for all of us and has a plan. We have the free will to accept it or neglect it. One of my priest friends one day, in the beach, held my head under the water for like minute and a half. I came up seeking for air, desperate, trying to breath as much as I could. And then he told me: “When you look for God in the same way you looked for that air, you will find it.” And reading these passages reminded me of that story. David and the woman were, before all, full of faith and were ready to receive the revelation. God amends the past in the present for a better future that goes toward salvation. He can amend it in a complicate way like in the story of David or in a simple one, like in the story of the woman. And he does it because he cares for us and most of all, he loves us in a personal way, with our differences.