Just a Touch

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch His cloak, I will be healed”. Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” He said, “your faith has healed you”. And the woman was healed from that moment. [Mt. 9:20-2, NIV]

A large crowd followed and pressed around Him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all 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, because she thought, “If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed”. Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched My clothes?” “You see the people crowding against You,” His disciples answered, “and yet You can ask, ‘Who touched My clothes?’” But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and knelt at His feet, and trembling with fear, told Him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering”. [Mk. 5:25-34, NIV]

As Jesus was on His way, the crowds almost crushed Him. And there was a woman there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched Me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against You”. But Jesus said, “Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.” The woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at His feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched Him and how she had been instantly healed. Then He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace”. [Lk. 8:43-7, NIV]

All we know about this woman is that she lived in 1^st c. AD in the region of Galilee [Israel], near the shore of the Sea of Galilee, probably in Capernaum. She was likely a Jewish woman old enough to be a wife, but not elderly [Lk. 8:26; Mk. 5:1, 21; 2:13; 6:1; Mt. 15:24].

Desperate, she was suffering. Her blood condition was chronic and abnormal [a “spring of blood”]. It had to be embarrassing; she could feel it; it made her weak; she was suffering (physically? Emotionally?). She had endured many medical “cures”, but had gotten worse instead of better. She’d also gone poor, spending all her money trying to get well.

She had heard about Jesus. She was there when He returned from healing the demoniac[s] in the graveyard of the Gerasenes. She had likely heard Jairus’ (a synagogue official) request for his daughter to be healed, and had heard from the crowd about Him. People in the area knew Jesus had healed a paralytic, a man with a shriveled hand, large crowds from diseases & demons, and raise two people from the dead (a centurion’s servant & a widow’s son).

She believed Jesus could heal her – “If I could just touch His cloak/clothes, I know I’ll be healed”.

She was willing to break social taboos in order to reach Jesus – she was “unclean”, and unwelcome in society [Lev. 15:19-30]. She was isolated, even from family. If she had been married, her husband likely would have divorced her because of her uncleanness [Dt. 24:1]. She could not even have gone to the synagogue to worship [Lev. 15:28-30]. She was not supposed to be in the city, around others, or touch anyone – especially a man!

Any other teacher touched by her would have become “unclean”. Instead, the Teacher made her clean!

She was willing to go into the large, dangerous crowd [“super large”, almost crushing Him, pressing against Him]. She believed that Jesus would heal her.

She pushed through the crowd, shamed yet desperate, coming from behind Him. She touched the edge of His cloak – hem, or tassel – … and was immediately healed.

Note: Not everyone in that crowd was already well! Some needed healing. Not everyone who bumped into Him or pressed against Him or was crushing Him was healed!!

But there was something different about her touch … her faith had healed her.

Don’t misunderstand – faith alone can do nothing!! But faith in Christ can do everything!!

Because not everyone was healed, we are not to understand that she was the only one in the crowd with faith. And it’s not a matter of “great” or “greater” faith. The man who asked Jesus to heal his demon-possessed son, after the disciples could not, admitted his faith was not what it should be, and yet Jesus healed his son.

The woman was healed immediately and completely, and knew it.

Jesus spoke to her – called her out publicly to confess what she had done, and what had happened to her as a result. He did not scold her. He acknowledged she had touched Him, that His power had gone into her, and that she was now healed.

But more than that – as a Jewish rabbi, a teacher of the Jewish religious community, and able before men to make such statements, called her “Daughter” – indicating that she was a member of the religious community of the Jews. This was public acknowledgement that she had been healed, and restored to being “clean”.

She had been afraid – of rebuke? Of the presence of God and His power? That she would be “exposed”?

“Go in peace” – be settled and not afraid in your spirit – “and be free from your suffering” – it’s finally over.

When Jesus told her that her faith (rightly placed, in Him) had made her “well”, He spoke the word that is used for “redeemed” – a right relationship with God. He did not use the word that is usually associated with physical healing.

Have you been suffering? Do you need relief?

Hundreds come, from everywhere – just to see Your face, touch the Healer’s hand.

Desperate, I push through the crowd.

If I could touch Your clothes, I could feel Your power.

Come my way. Come my way. Come my way. Won’t You come my way?

Please look and notice me.

Just to ease my pain, just to know Your name.

Come my way. Come my way. Come my way. Won’t You come my way?

I’m out of touch; I’m out of reach. I’ve got the faith to believe.

Oh, am I out of touch, or out of reach? What would it take for You to walk towards me?

I’m out of touch, out of reach. But I’m running toward You, and it’s all I believe.

Come my way. Come my way. Yeah, come my way. Won’t You come my way?

Yeah, come my way. Come my way. Come my way. Won’t You come my way?

Just a touch …

“Come My Way”, by Skillet, Alien Youth.