Mark 5:25-34
Now a certain
woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from
many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather
grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and
touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be
made well.”
Immediately the
fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was
healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power
had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My
clothes?”
But His
disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who
touched Me?’ ”
And He looked
around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and
trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and
told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made
you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
Jesus had just healed a demon possessed man, before this incident with this woman. He had been asked to leave the area (Gadarenes) so He took a boat and crossed over the other side of Galilee to Capernaum. Many people had gathered to Jesus to see Him. One of the rulers of the Synagogue came to Jesus and fell at His feet and 'begged Him earnestly' to come and heal his daughter who was dying. Jesus and the multitude of people went with Jairus and it's on the way to Jairus's house that Jesus encountered the woman with the issue of blood. We're not told anything else about the woman other than she had had a flow of blood for 12 years.
Under Levitical Law the woman was unclean. Leviticus 15: 25-27
‘If a woman has
a discharge of blood for many days, other than at the time of her customary
impurity, or if it runs beyond her usual time of impurity, all the days of her
unclean discharge shall be as the days of her customary impurity. She shall be
unclean. Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to
her as the bed of her impurity; and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as
the uncleanness of her impurity. Whoever touches those things shall be unclean;
he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.'
For twelve years the woman would have been ceremonially and socially unclean and anybody who touched her would have become unclean and would have had to have gone through ritual cleansing as prescribed in the Law. Everything she touched or she sat on, laid upon would have also become unclean and those who sat or lay in the same place would have become unclean. More than likely she would have been ostracised by society and she wouldn't have been able to go to the Temple or local Synagogue to worship the Lord. She probably would have been weak because of anaemia and other complications. We don't know her marital status. Maybe some friends brought her food and left it outside her door or perhaps she had to forage for food, but this is conjecture as we don't know, but basically she was a sad sight.
She was so desperate she suffered at the hands of the physicians who had taken her money and had actually made her worse. What an awful state the woman was in.
Somehow she had heard about Jesus, and He was in her area that day - the Man who could heal people. She had nothing to lose, because she had lost so much already: her dignity, freedom, permission to worship God in the Temple or local Synagogue, money, so she pressed her way through the crowds.
She came behind Jesus and reaching out 'anonymously', she touched the hem of His garment - saying something truly amazing: "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well." She had such faith, she knew she only had to touch Jesus' garments and she would be healed. As soon as her fingers touched the garment, the flow of blood she had had for twelve years dried up, and 'she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.' We cannot imagine the relief she must have felt, but wait, that is not the end of the account.
I wonder if she had hoped to sneak away quietly, but Jesus felt power going out of Himself so He turned around in the crowd and asked "Who touched My clothes?" He knew who had touched Him but this is where her story of restoration begins and there was a lesson for the crowd also.
The woman was in fear and she trembled because she had been shunned by society because of her uncleanness and as we saw in part 1 women weren't looked favourably upon so to venture out in such an unclean state, would more than likely have been frowned upon. She fell before Jesus, an act of reverence, respect and worship.
Restoration for the woman:
- As we saw in the Levitical Law, this woman had been unclean for twelve years, we don't know if she had family, if she was married or not but by Jesus bringing this woman into the open, the whole of society could see she had become clean again and could enter back into it.
- From the above, she had spent all of her money on quack physicians so was poor, but now she could be restored back into her family and her circle of friends, who could help her. If she was married her marriage could be restored and her husband could provide for her again.
- Jairus was there, the leader of the Synagogue - he could see that she was now free from the condition which ailed her for twelve years, so she could go back into the place of worship to bow down to the God who had healed her.
- Because of her faith, the Prince of Peace tells her to go in peace. He also restores her to Himself, by calling her 'daughter' - she is the only person in the New Testament whom Jesus calls anyone with such endearment.
Lessons:
- This was also another lesson for Jairus, because if Jesus Christ could heal a woman by her just touching His garment, then He Himself was more than able to heal his daughter, or as we find out later on, raise her from the dead.
- The disciples had seen Jesus perform other miracles, but they still didn't fully understand who Jesus was. They learned that day that faith in Jesus Christ can and does heal. The act of reaching out and touching the garment didn't save the woman, as Jesus clearly states "Daughter, your faith has made you well." Her faith made her well. This was a lesson for the crowd and us as well.
- If we want to be spiritually healed, then the only place we can come is to the Saviour He is THE only One who can heal us from our sin and restore us to the relationship we were created to have with our Creator.
- The woman came to Jesus because she couldn't make herself clean. That's the same for us. Jesus came to live the perfect life we could not and die the death we deserve. You come only to Jesus, not doing anything, just come to Him and Him alone as you are.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
