having heard concerning Jesus, came in the crowd behind and touched his clothes;
Jesus is on His way to raise a dying girl, and a crowd presses in on Him. One woman there has bled for twelve years, and she reaches from behind for the edge of His clothes — what had she heard that made a touch seem enough?
The verse turns on a report reaching her ears. One writer presses the exact wording of it:
She heard of Jesus; it does not say she heard about Jesus, but she heard of Jesus. It was the Person that came before her mind, the report of the Person reached her, and she resolved in herself that she would go to Him.
Most people in Galilee heard the same report and did nothing with it:
News of what the Prophet of Nazareth said and did had spread through Galilee, but it had little effect on most people. Isaiah might well ask, looking ahead in prophecy to this time, "Who has believed what he has heard from us?" But this woman believed the report. And because she believed it, the strength of the arm of the LORD for healing was revealed to her and in her (Isa. 53:1).
Everything was against her. He was already on His way to a dying child, and the crowd blocked any proper meeting.
There are usually difficulties and obstructions of some sort in the way of a needy person seeking the aid of the Saviour. But obstacles only quicken and strengthen faith. And it was so in this case. A formal meeting with the Teacher was not possible in the circumstances, so surely something less would do. She believed that His power was so full that the slightest contact with Him would be enough for her recovery.
Why would touching a piece of cloth do anything? One writer traces her thinking back to the sacrifices of the law:
She knew the rule of the law of Moses. When a sacrifice was brought to the LORD for an unclean Israelite, the offerer laid his hands on the animal. It was then accepted in his place. In some way beyond explaining, the value and effect of the sacrifice passed to the one who touched it. So she decided to touch Jesus, so that the healing power so full in Him might pass to her.
She reaches for the outer edge of His clothing, not for His face. One writer reads that low aim as part of what faith is.
Faith is not only conscious of need, and of our own helplessness to meet the need, but it perceives something of the excellency of the Person of Jesus — it sees that in Him there is grace and power to meet the need. And faith makes a person humble. The needy soul is ready to take the lowly place, as the woman did. We do not have to do some great thing to secure the blessing — that would only feed our pride. We are made willing to be nothing and to give Christ all the glory. The power is in Christ, not in the faith. The touch of faith secures the blessing by putting us in touch with the One in whom all the merit lies.
The garment itself carried an edge, or fringe, and one writer sees meaning in it:
I must get into personal contact with Him, I must touch Him, even at the very edge of His clothes, the hem of His garment, the fringe of blue which they wore. In His case it was a fringe of blue, without question: He was the Man from heaven, the heavenly Man.
Many people pressed against Him that day. Only one touch was the touch of faith.
The crowd was so great that many could not help touching the Lord (Luke 8:45). But He knows everything, and He was not likely to confuse the touch of faith with the rude push of a curious crowd. He makes the same distinction today. Great numbers of people crowd into "places of worship" for all kinds of reasons. Among them are true hearts who seek Him in humble faith.
She received her healing in secret, but she could not keep it secret. One writer draws out what that means for anyone who has received from Christ.
Unknown to anyone in the crowd, she went behind and touched the hem of His garment. Her cure was instant. She had received from Him; now she must acknowledge it. In secret she got it; openly she must confess it. Is it not the same now? If we have received an even greater blessing, life and salvation, and that at the cost of His atoning death, should we not openly confess it?
- Heard. The report about Jesus reached many in Galilee; she was the one who believed it, and the report set her feet moving.
- Came. Obstacles did not stop her. The crowd and His urgent errand only strengthened her faith.
- Touched. She took the lowly place and reached for the edge of His clothing. The power lay in Christ, not in the faith.
- Singled out. A crowd pressed Him and got nothing. One touch of faith drew healing, and He still tells the two apart.
- Confessed. She took the blessing in secret; she had to own it in the open. The same duty rests on everyone who has received life and salvation from Him.
for she said, If I shall touch but his clothes I shall be healed.
A woman had bled for twelve years, spent all her money on doctors, and only grown worse. While Jesus was on His way to another emergency, she kept telling herself that one touch of His clothes would be enough.
Her resolve was not her first move but her last. She had tried every other source of help before she settled on Him. One writer sees the same pattern in people looking for salvation today.
For twelve years she had been looking for health from Jewish doctors, and it came to nothing. Why did she not go sooner to the great Healer of all? Sadly, she is a picture of people in our own day who look everywhere and to everyone for salvation rather than to the Son of God... Once the woman saw that her only hope lay in the Lord Jesus, she made her plan to match. What wonderful faith! She had gained such confidence in Him that she believed one touch of the fringe of His robe, with its blue ribbon (Numbers 15:37-41), would be enough to heal her completely.
The word she used is the ordinary New Testament word for "save," used here in the wider sense of rescue. Tracing it across the Gospels shows how naturally healing and salvation share one vocabulary.
It is worth noticing the word sozo. In the New Testament it usually means "save." Here it carries its general sense of rescue, and it covers the healing of this woman in all three accounts: Matthew 9:21-22; Mark 5:28, 34; Luke 8:48... In these places the Greek word appears in English as "made whole," or "healed."
She asked for nothing impressive — only contact with the edge of His clothing. That smallness is the point, because a great deed would have fed her pride instead of emptying it.
Faith makes a person humble. The needy soul is ready to take the low place and to say, like the woman, "If I can only touch the edge of His clothes, I will be healed." We do not have to do some great thing to secure the blessing. That would only feed our pride. Instead we are made willing to be nothing and to give Christ all the glory. The power is in Christ, not in the faith. The touch of faith secures the blessing by putting us in contact with the One who holds all the merit.
Her theology was thin. Her aim was not.
Faith is always sure of the Saviour. It may know very little about itself and very little about Him, but it never doubts in Whom the power lies. Much still has to be learned and corrected, but faith goes straight to its object.
A proper interview was impossible — the crowd was thick and Jesus was already on an urgent errand for Jairus. So she scaled her request down rather than dropping it, reasoning from something she already knew about sacrifice.
A needy person who seeks help from the Saviour usually meets difficulties and obstacles of some kind. But obstacles only wake faith up and make it stronger... She knew the rule God gave through Moses: when someone brought a sacrifice to the Lord for an unclean Israelite, the one who brought it laid his hands on the animal, and God accepted it in the man's place. In some way no one can explain, the worth and power of the sacrifice passed to the man who touched it. So she decided to touch Jesus, so that the healing power that filled Him would pass to her.
Under the law her condition made her ceremonially unclean, and whatever she touched became unclean too. Her plan therefore assumed two things at once about Him.
Her trial and sorrow during those twelve years of uncleanness must have been great. Her faith was greater still, and so was the witness she gave to the holy Person of our Lord. Everything that touched a person as unclean as she was became unclean too. She believed both that her touch could not make Christ unclean, for He is holy, and that His power could heal her.
The exchange ran the other way:
Instead of uncleanness passing into Him by the touch, power went out from Him to drive off the power of death and wipe out the stain.
She hoped to take the blessing and slip away unnoticed. He stopped the crowd instead, and commentators read that as deliberate kindness rather than exposure.
He is not content to let the one who has received the blessing slip away in silence. He brings the believer into His own presence to tell Him the whole truth. He delights to have us tell Him everything, with no distance and nothing held back between Himself and His own.
- Emptied — twelve years, many doctors and all her money left her worse than before. Only then did she reach for His clothes.
- Small — she asked for one touch. No great deed is needed, because the power is in Christ, not in the strength of our faith.
- Pressed — obstacles stood in her way, and they only woke her faith up and made it stronger.
- Reversed — her touch could not make Him unclean. His power went out and healed her.
- Confessed — He would not let the cure stay a secret. He brought her into His presence to tell Him everything.
And immediately her fountain of blood was dried up, and she knew in her body that she was cured from the scourge.
Twelve years of doctors had produced nothing; one touch settled the matter in a moment. Commentators press how unlike the cure was to every treatment she had paid for.
Notice how the Lord's healing set itself apart from all others. It was no lengthy process. He did not put this woman under a course of treatment, as some interpreters of His dealings with the soul would make Him do in that case. No, it was immediate healing. "Immediately the flow of blood dried up." How blessed this is! How sure that His way in saving the soul is exactly the same. "Son, your sins are forgiven" were His first words to the paralysed man. "Your faith has saved you," to many another. Nowhere did He put those who came to Him through a trial period to get their sins forgiven and to find peace with God.
Mark does not say her bleeding eased. The word behind "flow" means a spring that never stops running, and older translations render it "fountain of blood."
maqor, πηγή: 'source, perpetual spring.' It is translated 'spring' in Proverbs 25:26 and Hosea 13:15. It is used for the 'fountain of blood' in Mark 5:29, the 'fountain of life' in Psalm 36:9, and the 'fountain of living waters' in Jeremiah 2:13 and Revelation 21:6.
The second word, the one behind "disease," is rarer still. Its background is grimmer than the English suggests.
Plague is an uncommon word in the New Testament. Luke's Gospel uses it for the works Jesus did in front of the two disciples John the Baptist sent to Him from prison. Luke writes, "In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits" (Luke 7:21). The word is also twice applied by Mark to the disease of the woman suffering from a flow of blood (Mark 5:29, 34). The word itself means a whip. It probably covered the more severe illnesses people wanted relief from.
Her faith settled two things before she ever reached out.
All that came in touch with such an unclean person became unclean. She believed both that her touch could not make Christ unclean, for He is holy, and that His power could heal her.
One writer describes what happened when defilement met Him.
Jesus is the only One who was ever here who could not be defiled. Instead of pollution getting into Him through the touch, power went out of Him to dismiss the power of death and blot out the stain.
She asked for nothing more than the edge of His clothing, and got everything. That smallness is treated as part of the lesson, not an accident of the story.
The needy soul is ready to take the lowly place and to say, like the woman, "If I touch even his garments, I will be made well." We do not have to do some great thing to secure the blessing. That would only feed our pride. Instead we are made willing to be nothing and to give Christ all the glory. The power is in Christ, not in the faith. The touch of faith secures the blessing by putting us in touch with the One who holds all the merit.
The order in the verse is exact: the flow stopped, and then she felt it. Reversing that order is the mistake many make.
First faith, then feeling; "she felt in her body." "Ah," says someone who reads this, "that's what I am waiting for. I want to feel that I am healed." But notice, she did not wait to feel. She touched, sure that the touch brought healing with it. How much more should you come to Him now, sure that you are received. He says, "whoever comes to me I will never cast out." Come to Him saying, "I know You receive me," and you will find feeling to be the result of faith.
Her feelings were accurate. They were still not what the Lord wanted her resting on, and so He called her out of the crowd.
A few minutes before, she had "felt in her body that she was healed." Then she confessed, "knowing what had happened to her." This was very good, but it was not quite enough. Suppose the Lord had let her go away holding only these nice "feelings" and this "knowledge" of what had been "done in her." She would have been open to many a doubt and fear in the days to come. Every small ache would have raised the fear that her old trouble was back. As it was, she got His definite word, "Be healed of your disease." That settled it. His word was far more reliable than her feelings.
- Immediately. No course of treatment, no trial period — the cure was complete the moment faith touched Him.
- The fountain. The word means a spring that never stops. The source itself dried up.
- The scourge. Mark's rare word pictures a disease that lashed her like a whip, and it stopped in a moment.
- The direction. Uncleanness did not travel into Him; power travelled out of Him. The merit was in Christ, never in her touch.
- The order. Faith, then feeling — and feeling is still not the resting place, which is why He would not let her go without His word.