“When Jesus had crossed again in a boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he was by the sea. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came up, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He asked him urgently, “My little daughter is near death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be healed and live.” Jesus went with him, and a large crowd followed and pressed around him.
Now a woman was there who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had endured a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she kept saying, “If only I touch his clothes, I will be healed.” At once the bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
Jesus knew at once that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” But he looked around to see who had done it. Then the woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” —Mark 5:21-34
This dramatic scene opens with a large crowd gathering around Jesus. A synagogue ruler–Jairus–humbly approaches the Lord, falling at His feet. He earnestly pleads for the Healer to place His hands upon his dying darling daughter–the apple of his eye–so that she will be made whole and live. In desperation, Jairus openly begs for healing, believing Jesus possesses the achieving power to make her well. And our Lord lovingly consents.
What parent would not do likewise when their child is physically sick? But what about when your child is spiritually sick? Are we as earnest then? The spiritual health of our children is of far greater value and importance than their physical well-being.
On their way to heal Jairus’ daughter, we find Mark abruptly changing the focus. A woman desperate for relief clandestinely approaches the Jesus in hopes of merely touching His cloak for her healing. In faith she reasons, if she can simply get close enough to touch the hem of His garment she will be freed from her misery. She holds a strong faith in the achieving power of Christ to heal her. For twelve long years she has sought help from many, yet she’s only grown worse. An outcast from society–much like a leper–she is considered ritually “unclean” because of her condition. She is excluded from normal social interactions. But, she does not allowing the crowds to hinder her pursuit. She inches closer to the Healer. She desperately reaches out for just a touch of His cloak. And as she connects with the hem of His cloak, immediately, Scripture says, her body is freed from her suffering.
At once, we are told, Jesus realizes achieving power had gone from Him and He turns towards the pressing crowd asking in tenderness, “Who touched my clothes?” Jesus’ question seems ridiculous to His disciples considering the great throngs around Him all seeking to get close to Him. Yet this does not hinder the Lord’s searching eye. He wants to commend and encourage her faith. Falling at His feet and trembling with fear, the poor woman presents herself to the One who made her whole. Our Lord tells her it was her faith–not His garment–that healed her.
Take It to Heart
Paul’s prayer in Philippians is a great prayer to humbly and boldly pray over those we love as well as for ourselves:
“And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” —Philippians 1:9-11
God promises us His peace when we turn to Him!
“You keep completely safe the people who maintain their faith, for they trust in you.”—Isaiah 26:3
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. ” —Matthew 7:7-8
Further Reflections
“It is God to whom and with whom we travel and while He is the end of our journey, He is also at every stopping place.” —Elizabeth Elliot
There is nothing, indeed, which God will not do for a man who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist; though as he puts down his foot he finds a rock beneath him.” —F. B. Meyer