And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.
She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”
And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling 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 disease.”
Mark 5:25-34 ESV
Have you ever had one of those times in life when God connects seemingly unrelated things? That is exactly how this blog post came about! Each new series of the blog begins a few months prior to publication. The team is given writing prompts and topics. When I saw the topics for this series, I quickly chose this encounter with Jesus to write on. Not because of the woman in the story but because this story was linked to the subject of faith. In a previous series, I had written on faith and I really wanted to spend more time digging into the topic. It was a chance for me to research and learn more.
Over the past months my Mom has been suffering with some health problems. Her symptoms were confusing to doctors as none of the regular testing had been able to uncover a diagnosis. Test after test came back as if she were completely healthy, yet she continued to deal with a body that was not functioning correctly.
Not once did I see the connection between my Mom and the Bible story. Then, early one morning, as I was praying for my Mom, the Holy Spirit awakened my mind to see a whole new aspect of the Bible story that I had not been considering. While examining her faith is instructive, it is not really the part of the story that will carry us through the hard times of life. Jesus’ desire to know us and to be in a relationship with us is the best news of the Gospel. Jesus did not let her go with merely a healing. Instead, He wanted her story. He is a personal God, and he wanted to meet her and connect with her. Touching Him healed her physically, but hearing His words spoken to her, knowing that He truly saw her, made her whole.
All three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) mention this woman’s encounter with Jesus. They each tell us that the woman had been long suffering with a bleeding disease. As modern women, we would be highly inconvenienced with an unending cycle, but our lives would not be completely upended as hers would have been. Levitical law (Leviticus 15) would have prohibited this woman from engaging in society. She was considered unclean, and anyone who touched her would have taken on her uncleanliness. This meant she would have been very isolated and alone much of the last twelve years.
Ostracized from the synagogue and from society, yet somehow she had heard the stories of Jesus’ miraculous healings and she began to seek Him out.
For twelve years, this woman had lived in a cycle of hope and disappointment. Anyone who has ever lived with a chronic illness or received a devastating diagnosis knows this pain. Each new treatment option, medical procedure, or new drug carries with it a hope. A hope that the pain of the illness will end. A hope that a normal life can be regained and the shame of illness will become a distant memory. Then, if healing doesn’t come, hope is extinguished yet again. Mark notes that she had seen many doctors, and yet her condition was only made worse by the treatments.
She could have chosen to remain in her tent, allowing hopelessness, pain, and despair to be the focus of her attention, but she didn’t do that. Her faith, no matter how weak or immature, was enough to get her out of her tent and on the road that day. In her own words, her goal was to simply “touch His garment”. She didn’t feel worthy of speaking to Him directly, but she did believe in His worthiness. There is a teaching about faith that says something like, “it isn’t the amount of your faith but the focus of your faith that carries the power." Jesus himself said that we only need a little faith, faith the size of a mustard seed, to move mountains. When we place our faith in Jesus and believe in Him we take the focus off of self-reliance and allow God to work in our lives. The power lies in Him, not in us. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she slyly finagled her way in the crowd to get close enough to touch His outer garment. Not Him but merely His cloak.
In verses 29 and 30 in the ESV, the word immediately appears twice. Once to describe the speed of her healing and once to describe the speed of Jesus’s reaction. Neither had to prove themselves first. Her healing was instantaneous, but it was not inconspicuous. Although there were many people surrounding Jesus and likely touching Him with their hands or their bodies, this was different. Jesus was attuned to His power and knew that “power had gone forth”. More than likely, based on other accounts of Jesus’s ability to know the thoughts of people, He already knew who touched Him and why they had done so. Yet, He stopped the movement of the crowd to ask the question. In a sense, the miracle had already happened. She immediately knew her physical illness was healed, but Jesus wanted more for her than a physical healing.
As John 3:17 says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Healing physical bodies was not Jesus’s primary purpose. He came to Earth, died for our sins, and was resurrected so that all who believe in Him can be eternally reconciled to the Father. In this encounter, Jesus draws the woman out of hiding. It is in this moment that she chooses to leave her shame and ambiguity in the shadows.
“But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.” (Mark 5:33)
In a posture of pure worship, she bows at His feet and confesses it all. This was a beautiful moment but it was not a private moment. All those in the crowd heard her story. Some were likely repulsed that an unclean woman was amongst them. If she had touched them, even inadvertently as part of the crowd, they were now unclean. Some likely wanted to rebuke her and shame her. You can almost hear the whispers and the gossip concerning her actions. She could easily have been taken away by the Jews and punished for breaking Levitical laws, but instead, Rabbi Jesus looks at her and calls her “daughter”.
No other place in Scripture does He do this. Where once she had been defined by her illness, she is now defined by her relationship to Jesus. She is the Daughter of the King of the World! Reconciled to God, her heart is made whole.
“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” (Mark 5:34)
In our human flesh, it is hard not to focus on physical healing when we are in the midst of pain. But even when our physical bodies are broken and irreparable, our souls are not. God is always there extending His invitation to His family. He is calling each of us to stop and see Him. He desires to draw us in close and call us “daughter”. Physical healing in our time on Earth is not guaranteed, no matter how strong our belief or our faith. Yet over and over in Scripture, because of the great grace of God, we are guaranteed to find healing for our souls with only a small amount of faith.
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13