PENnED

Mark 5:24-34 New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. ²⁵ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶ 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. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

³⁰ At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹ “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

³² But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³ Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. ³⁴ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

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We usually talk about Jesus touching us, but this Sunday’s Gospel text talks about a woman touching Jesus.

Whatever it is that you and I are suffering from, the story of this unnamed woman appears to be a source of hope. She touches Jesus. And she gets well. The question we may ask is, Are we going to have the same positive result if we come to Jesus and, in our own way, touch him? That, I think, is a good thing to find out.

She had suffered a great deal

Let’s begin by taking a closer look at the physical condition of this woman. According to the narrative, she “had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.” Whatever the true nature of her illness was, the doctors did not help. In fact, they made her condition worse. In other words, they caused her condition to be untreatable, a hopeless case.

What would you do if you are suffering greatly and you’ve been in pain for a long time? Some think it doesn’t make sense to prolong the suffering, and so the best alternative is to end it. But how? End life. I think it isn’t improbable to imagine that this woman thought of that solution as well.

But today is not the day for that. Today is her lucky day! She encounters Jesus!

But perhaps we think of her encounter with Jesus as divinely arranged. But even if we do, I don’t think we should discount the part she plays in her healing. So, OK, if it would make us feel better, let’s say it’s a “blessed” day for her.

She heard about Jesus

It’s a blessed day for this woman because today Jesus is in the area, and she hears about him.

However, it may be too late for her. Jesus is going somewhere to help someone else, the daughter of Jairus, a leader in the synagogue and, apparently, a respectable man.

Does Jairus’ girl deserve it more than her? Perhaps that’s how she feels because with the blood gushing out of her body, she is unclean and, according to the “purity code,” anybody who simply brushes against her is rendered unclean as well.

So it looks like she has no chance at all. But just as many of us would probably give up, she does the unthinkable! She touches Jesus’ cloak!

“Who touched me?”

Why does she do that forbidden thing and, maybe, lose her chance of getting a proper appointment with Jesus? I think that, for her, it was now or never! Either she does it now or she just suffers forever, if not, and perhaps better, just end it all. Besides, I think that she thinks she has already lost everything, and now she really has nothing more to lose!

At the very core, however, her reason for doing what she does is neither desperation nor that she has nothing to lose, but because she thinks, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” She believes touching Jesus could heal her.

So she touches Jesus!

Immediately her bleeding stops and she feels in her body that she is freed from her suffering.

Wow!

But then the dreaded question comes like a deadly arrow: “Who touched me?”

The woman becomes apprehensive.

It probably helps that she is given the chance to think about what to say as the disciples try to brush away Jesus’ seemingly unreasonable question. And it may be that the little window that gives her the opportunity to think properly has shed ample light on her thoughts so that she’s able to say the right thing. She falls at Jesus’ feet and, “trembling with fear,” tells him the whole truth.

Perhaps part of her thought process is this: Since I’m healed then perhaps Jesus doesn’t really mind that I touched him. And perhaps I wouldn’t be charged for contaminating others because now I am clean. Even if so, that is just her thoughts. Still, she and the people need to hear Jesus’ judgment.

I could imagine everybody standing motionless and quiet as they wait for what Jesus would say. The moment of truth has come. Jesus speaks the word.

“Your faith has healed you”

The woman is right! The words that came out of the mouth of Jesus are not words of condemnation but commendation. Jesus praises her for her faith and in the midst of an astounded crowd declares, “Be freed from your suffering”!

Obviously, faith is an important ingredient in our healing, whatever it is that we suffer from. But is it merely a formula that goes: have Jesus in your life and have faith in him, and then you will be healed? It appears to be that way if we base it solely on the story of this unnamed woman. But the thing is, not all stories in the Bible end like that, not all stories end like a fairy tale.

The Apostle Paul, for example, had faith in the Lord and he prayed that the “thorn in his flesh,” whatever it was, might be taken away from him. But the Lord did not grant his request because, according to the Lord, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

The Lord Jesus, too, did not get what he desired. In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that he might not go through suffering and death:“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me…” (Mark 14:36). But we know that Jesus was not spared—he did suffer and die.

So is this story of the unnamed woman really a source of hope for us, especially those of us who are suffering greatly?

It appears that, ultimately and despite our faith, it is all up to the Lord. But that should not get us discouraged. Why? Because if we look at the number of people in the Bible the Lord heals because of their faith, that number is much greater than those whose requests were denied! In fact, the number of “unanswered” (or “waitlisted,” if there is such a thing) prayers is negligible! And that should encourage us.

How do we know if the Lord will grant our request? Really, we don’t. But unless we, through faith, touch him, how would we know if he will?

So, go ahead, touch Jesus.