She had heard about this man. People were saying he was a great teacher; a healer; some claimed he could even raise the dead! The crowd began to move out, trailing the man as he followed one of the synagogue rulers. This was it! This was her chance! She threaded her way through the throng as it went along, closer, closer... Finally she was within arm's reach of him. All I need to do is touch him, she thought. Just a touch... With a quick breath she stuck her arm between two of his disciples and, for the briefest moment, brushed his cloak with her fingertips.
She knew immediately that she was healed. A sense of wellness and warmth flooded her body and her heart pounded with joy—it had worked! Turning quickly, she started to leave when she realized the steady stream of footsteps had ceased. The crowd stood still and she heard a voice ring out, "Who touched my clothes?" She froze. The man's disciples were baffled. "What do you mean? Everyone is crowding against you!" But the woman could literally feel his gaze on her back. In that moment she knew that he knew.
Her joy gave way to fear as she turned around to face him. Trembling she stepped forward, fell to her knees, and told him her whole story. The bleeding that wouldn't stop. The many doctors. The countless remedies that failed and every last penny she spent in pursuit of a cure. She told him how for twelve years her uncleanness had kept her in a state of desperate guilt and intolerable loneliness.
Then, to gasps of shock and looks of disdain, she confessed how she was the one who had reached out and touched his robes. "I'd heard about your teaching and your miracles," she said in a tremulous voice, "and I knew that if I could just touch you, I would be healed..." When she'd finished her story, her gaze fell to the ground. Silently she awaited his rebuke. Instead, she felt his hand rest gently on her shoulder! Surprised, she looked up into a face warm with affection and eyes which seemed to pierce to her very soul. "Daughter," he said lovingly, "your faith has healed you. You are free! Go in peace and suffer no more."
The encounter of Jesus and the sick woman is a brief but beautiful vignette of a life touched by faith in Christ. We see the woman's sad state apart from faith; we see God stirring and awakening faith in her heart; and we see the life-transforming power of Christ grasped by faith! Let's take a closer look at what this passage teaches us.
In the beginning of the account, we are not given the sick woman's name—she is identified only by her infirmity (Mark 5:25). Doubtless this is how she saw herself as well! For twelve years she could not be rid of her uncleanness; it's likely she was tempted to give up, to resign and accept her ailment as part of her identity. She probably felt cursed by God, as incurable diseases were considered a sign of His displeasure. She would have been ostracized by both the religious leaders and her community (Leviticus 15:19–31). For her, life must have seemed hopeless.
Apart from faith in Christ, we too are in a hopeless state—cursed under the wrath of God, ostracized from Him and identified only by our sins: "...since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent new ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless" (Romans 1:28–31). Like the woman, the faithless cannot rid themselves of the filth that issues from their depraved hearts—they need a Physician.
The Bible tells us this woman "suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse" (Mark 5:26). Apart from faith in Christ, the sin-sick soul may turn to many "doctors"—drugs and entertainment; success and the praise of men; luxury and pleasure; knowledge and education; even religion! We may spend every last bit of effort we have toward bettering ourselves, but such "cures" have no lasting effect. Indeed they only serve to worsen our offense because we reject Christ and deem the remedy of His cross as worthless! Yet even in the midst of such depravity God's providence is at work, guiding the steps of those who are called by Him.
In his sermon at the Areopagus, Paul says that God has determined every detail of our lives down to when and where we are born "so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27). We naturally wonder, would the woman have sought Jesus so fervently had she not been ill? Once she found Him, did she look back on all those years of painful struggle with new eyes of faith, seeing them as God's blessing? Did she thank God for the sickness that drove her to the arms of Christ? We can't know for sure, but it is an encouraging thought! As with the sick woman, God's providence tills the soil of our hearts, preparing them for the seed of faith and guiding us to reach out toward the Son.
Take note that the woman's faith was not stirred when she touched Jesus nor saw Him, nor even when she was healed by Him but when she heard about Him (Mark 5:27). God's Word says that "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). The woman gave and did, gave and did in her endless pursuit of hope. But it was only when she received through the simple act of hearing that hope actually sprung to life in her heart! It is God alone who grants the gift of faith: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8–9).
We cannot do anything to obtain the gift of faith. But once it has been given to us, true faith always compels us to action: "...she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, 'If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed'" (Mark 5:27–28). The woman may have believed Jesus could heal her, but what good would her belief do had she failed to act on it? James writes, "...faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:17). The woman's faith motivated her to seek Jesus; our faith must do the same, or we are no better than demons (James 2:19)!
After the woman acted on her faith, we're told her bleeding stopped immediately and she "felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering" (Mark 5:29). Jesus also knew that "power had gone out from him", and turned around to find out who had touched him (v. 30). This is a dual picture of what happens when we profess our faith in Christ: We are immediately made a new creation; holy and blameless in God's sight (2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 1:22)! And we are imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit as He takes up residence in our hearts (Acts 1:8, 2:38).
We see from this illustration that righteousness—that is, a right standing with God—cannot be apprehended apart from faith in Christ! Faith becomes the conduit for the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us what is pleasing in God's sight (Philippians 2:13; Hebrews 13:21) as we are transformed more and more into the image of His Son (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is also by faith alone that we are freed from the torment of our consciences and can say with assurance, "I am at peace with God" (Galatians 5:1; Romans 5:1–2).
The woman's faith effected one final transformation in this brief encounter of her life—Christ addressed her as "daughter" (Mark 5:34). The original Greek word is thygatēr, meaning 'a daughter of God...acceptable to God, rejoicing in God's peculiar care and protection'. What an incredible change! In just a few short verses we watch this woman, recognized only by her suffering, go from desperate outcast to a cared for, loved and accepted child of God! And the amazing thing? Christ is still doing this today!
Jesus takes broken, hopeless lives and transforms them. He redeems dirty, wretched sinners and gives them new hearts, setting them apart as holy and righteous! He frees people like you and me from the shackles of sin and death, and makes us heirs of all eternity! That's some pretty good news if you ask me. Maybe you've already heard the word of Christ—that He came and died to save you. But there is a vast difference between casually bumping into Jesus and reaching out to grasp hold of Him in faith. Remember: He is not far from you. Will you reach out for Him today? All it takes is just a touch...