Mark 5:26-30

Mark 5:26 (KJB)
And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

In ancient times there were many superstitions involved with healing practices. They were all useless and most of the time they were just fanfare to make it look like something was happening and once they got the person’s money, that was as far as they would go. This is why this woman probably had gone to a number of physicians because each one would have some kind of ritual. So since there was no healing, the logical situation was that she was getting worse because she had a debilitating disease. In fact, George Washington was killed by his doctors because they kept bleeding him until his body was unable to produce any more blood and he died. This woman kept trying and you have to admire her persistence because she could have just left the place where she was living and gave up, but she didn’t.

This scenario reminds me of people who go from one religion to another in search of inner peace and they find none because all they visit are false religions. Then there are those who go from church to church in hopes to find salvation but all they find is ceremony and ritual. It is not until they come to the Lord Jesus Christ and become saved by Him will they find what they are looking for. Back in the 1960’s one of the biggest terms was “I need to find myself.” The problem is that when you found yourself you were still lost and you would not like what you found. It is only when you are found by Christ that life has meaning.

Mark 5:27 (KJB)
When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.

With the crowd so pressing against Jesus it would have been hard for a sick lady to make it through to Him but here is a good example of predestination. No matter how big or rough the crowd is, if a person is predestined to be saved, they will be saved. So somehow she had an opening in the crowd and capitalized on it and touched the hem of His garment. She might have moved with the crowd from behind.

Mark 5:28 (KJB)
For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

She had tremendous faith in believing that all she had to do was just touch the hem of His garment and she would be healed. Her faith was like that of the centurion. She believed that she did not even have to experience a touch by Jesus but just the touch of the garment He was wearing. The fact also that she was unclean may have also led to the reason that she wanted to touch His garment in secret. She might have been reluctant to show herself in public or she may have felt deep down that Jesus would reject her, yet she had enough faith to seek Him and not be deterred by any feeling or thought. No matter what her reasoning was to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment without being noticed, she nevertheless was determined to touch it. Now maybe she thought that the garment had healing powers but I doubt that because she was probably familiar with the miracles that Jesus was doing in healing the sick, especially the paralytic who may have been that way for many years. So she too thought that it would result in her healing. If He could heal the paralytic, then He could heal her. Eusebius in his Historia Ecclesiastica states that this woman is identified as Veronica of Caesarea Philippi but that is hard to confirm if it is true.

Mark 5:29 (KJB)
And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

Once she touched the hem of His garment, immediately the fountain of her blood stopped. The word “fountain” in this verse states that not only was the symptoms of her disease healed but also the source of what caused the bleeding was now healed. Jesus does not just take a sinner and cover their sins in salvation, He removes them and that removal causes one to feel clean. This woman experienced that in her body. Once the source of the disease was dealt with, she felt in her body that great feeling of being truly healed. The word “plague” in the Greek used here in this verse carries with it the meaning of “being scourged with a scourge.” Her disease was so debilitating that every time it happened, it was a weakening of her body as if she was scourged with a Roman scourge. That was how powerful her disease was and after Jesus healed her, she felt real healing and a strength returning to her body.

Mark 5:30 (KJB)
And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?

Virtue - Power

Jesus knew immediately that someone had touched His garment and that resulted in power going out of Him. The woman had much faith that Jesus could heal her and that faith caused some type of power transfer from Jesus to the woman for the purpose of healing her issue of blood. In that great crowd of people, many were touching Jesus because they were literally pressing against Him. He asks the question concerning who touched his clothes? He fully knew well who did it but asks the question for the purpose of confirming the woman’s faith and to quell any fears she may have had. This is just like today, when we pray, there are probably a hundred million prayers or more going to Heaven at any time of the day and even though it seems like big number, Jesus has personal time for each believer. Just as He did in the case of this woman. The power which had come out of Jesus did not diminish His power in any way but it was a faith lesson that when we have faith in Christ, then He empowers us in our Christian lives. He empowered the body of this woman to be healed without any ritual or cost to her because He is the Great Physician.

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