What is the meaning of the story of the woman with the issue of blood?

Jesus also told her that she was made whole, and that by faith — "Thy faith hath made thee whole." She had confessed the Lord "before all the people;" but that had not made her whole. It is important to see that it is not our tears, our sorrows, our reformations, or efforts of any kind that make us whole. No; it is Christ, and Christ alone. Scripture always directs us to the blood of Christ for peace, and it also assures us that "whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." Jesus had made this woman whole. Virtue had gone out of Him. Jesus assured her that the healing was perfect — she was made whole. Yes; Jesus is the Rock, and His work is perfect. He receives returning, sinful prodigals. He cleanses and justifies them by His blood, sends His Spirit into their hearts, and assures them they shall not come into condemnation, but that they have passed from death unto life.

The last words of Jesus to the woman are very emphatic — "Go in peace." The first is a remarkable word — "Go." I often think of it. Some persons never seem to learn its force in their experience. They may be sincere believers, but they are always hanging about Christ with doubts, not knowing forgiveness of sins and present peace; they are constantly asking to be made whole, hoping to be pardoned, etc., when Christ says to them, You are forgiven: "Go." They do not credit the glorious truth of present forgiveness and liberty of sonship; they are, therefore, in bondage and fear. Jesus would have it otherwise. He says, "Thy faith hath SAVED thee; go in peace!" As much as to say, Have no more doubts, fears, or misgivings; you are made whole, pardoned, reconciled, a child of God, a sinner saved. "Go in peace." Dear reader, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, take your right place before God and before men as saved! Wherever you go, go in peace as to your salvation, knowing that Christ has removed your transgressions from you as far as the east is from the west; and your sins and iniquities, God says, He will remember no more.

Then follows the account of the Jewish ruler of the synagogue, who fell at the feet of Jesus, and besought Him greatly to heal his dying daughter. Having dwelt on the scene elsewhere, I need say the less here. The Lord goes with him, intimating His specified ministry in Israel — a work which goes down to the reality of death, under which they would be shown really to lie. But the Shepherd of Israel could raise from the dead. This seems to be the bearing of the case before us, and not a mere general inroad upon Satan's power, which became the occasion and justification, if one may so speak, of carrying victoriously the glad tidings of God's kingdom and goodness to man. This was true of the Lord's ministry even while on the earth, the place where Satan reigns. His temptation in the wilderness proved Him stronger than the strong man, and therefore He spoils his goods, delivering the poor victims of Satan, and making them to be the captors of him whose captives they were. But here we find that his heart, far from being turned away from Israel, yearned over their need, deep as it was. The call of Jairus is no sooner made than He goes to answer it. He alone could wake out of death's sleep the daughter of Zion; yet, ineffable grace! while on the road He is open to everybody. In the throng through which He had to pass was a woman having an issue of blood. It was a desperate case; for she had suffered much, and tried many physicians in vain. Such is the hapless lot of man away from God; human aid avails not. Where is the man who has had to do with what is in the world, and would not at once acknowledge the justice of the picture, the powerlessness of man in the presence of the deepest wants? But this was just the opportunity for One who, even as man ministering here below, wielded the power of God in His love. Jesus was the true and unfailing servant of God; and the woman, instead of seeking good from man as he is, and thus suffering more and more by the very efforts made to benefit her, unseen in the press behind, touches the garment of Jesus. "For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she wad healed of that plague." To have banished her ailment would have been too little for Jesus; for He is a perfect Saviour, and therefore is a Saviour not only for the body that had suffered so long, but for the soul's affections and peace. She got a better blessing than she sought. He not only staunched the issue of blood, but filled her trembling heart with confidence instead of the fear that had possessed her before. Nothing would have been morally right had she gone away with the reflection that she had stolen some virtue from Jesus. Emphatically banishing, then, all dread from her spirit, He says to her, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague." That is, He seals to her with His mouth the blessing which, as it were, her hand would else have seemed to have taken surreptitiously from Him.

The woman had suffered severely from her illness, which is referred to twice as a ‘scourge’ (vs. 29, 34). She had sought advice from many a medic (v. 26) — each new doctor bringing a new glimmer of hope, only to be dashed soon afterwards. These medical consultations had come at significant expense — but without any relief, let alone success. One of the things only Mark tells us is that her condition had actually deteriorated. To make things worse, her financial resources had been exhausted in the process.

Her hopeless situation is a telling illustration of a sinner, not so much in his blindness (inability to see God’s glory) or lameness (inability to come to Him) but as being not only unclean but a source of continuous defilement (see Lev. 15:19ff.),[1] and the inability of human means to address the problem of sin. This is emphasised by the statement that she had ‘suffered’ many things from many physicians.[2]

But then she ‘heard of Jesus’ (v. 27). We are not told what exactly she heard but it was sufficient to prompt a decision and to set her steps in motion: she ‘came’. The timing was all but opportune: the Lord had just been confronted with another emergency, a matter of life and death. Jairus, a ruler of a synagogue, had implored Him to intervene and to heal his daughter who was on her deathbed. The Lord — despite the crowds, and despite all that He would find at Jairus’ house — had decided to go with Jairus (this little sentence is as moving as it is comforting: ‘And Jesus went with him’ (v. 24)), but the woman, in her distress, somehow managed to approach the Lord, from behind, and to touch His garment. She experiences immediate healing and realises it (v. 29).

We might have thought that this was the end of the story: the woman going on her way, having been blessed, and the Lord moving on to attend to the case of Jairus’ daughter. But He had higher thoughts and more blessing in store for this new beneficiary of His grace.

The woman had spent all that she had on physicians with no good result. What a picture of people's efforts to have their ills corrected by good works, humanitarian service and religions of every kind! But it is Christ they need. Their very life-blood is being drained away by the sin that will not yield to human treatment. By only touching the hem of the Lord's garment, she was healed immediately (v.44). The simplest touch of faith taps the great resources of His power. While His power could heal her disease, yet we know that His own death and blood-shedding was required to take away sin, of which the woman's disease was a picture. In view of the unquestionable certainty of His future sacrifice, He could even then save sinners who put their faith in Him.

However, the Lord did not allow her to leave without her hearing His word. In answer to His question, "Who touched Me?" Peter protested that many were touching Him. But crowds may surround the Lord without any real exercise of any kind, while one coming in faith receives eternal blessing. The Lord pressed the point, adding that virtue had gone out of Him. Of course He knew all that was going on in the woman's heart, but she must make herself known voluntarily. She came trembling, falling down before Him and declaring the full truth of her former state and the reason for her touching Him, with its blessed result (v.47). Therefore, she received, not only the feeling of being healed, but the full, definite assurance from the lips of the Son of God that her faith had made her well. It is vitally important that every believer have the clear, authoritative Word of God as to the absolute certainty of his eternal salvation. Nothing but this can give certainty. With His Word, she may well indeed "go in peace."

In the circumstances that follow the cure of the demoniac, we find the true position of Jesus portrayed in His work. He is called upon to heal the daughter of Jairus — even as He came to heal the Jews, had that been possible. As He went toward the house of Jairus to perform this work, a poor incurable woman touches the hem of His garment with faith, and is instantly healed. This was the case with Jesus during His passage among the Jews. In the multitude that surrounded Him, some souls through grace touched Him by faith. In truth, their disease was in itself incurable; but Jesus had life in Himself according to the power of God, and faith drew out its virtue by touching Him. Such are brought to acknowledge their condition, but they are healed. Outwardly He was in the midst of all Israel — faith reaped the benefit in the sense of its own need and of the glory of His Person. Now, with respect to the one who was the object of His journey, remedy was unavailing. Jesus finds her dead, but does not miss the object of His journey. He raises her again, for He can give life. Thus too with respect to Israel. On the way, those who had faith in Jesus were healed, incurable as they were in themselves; but in fact, as to Israel, the nation was dead in trespasses and sins. Apparently this put a stop to the work of Jesus. But grace will restore life to Israel in the end. We see the perfect grace of Jesus intercepting the effect of the bad tidings brought from the ruler's house. He says to Jairus, as soon as the messenger has told him of his daughter's death, and the inutility of troubling the Master any farther, "Be not afraid, only believe." In effect, although the Lord restores life to a dead Israel in the end of the ages, nevertheless it is by faith that it takes place. The case of the poor woman, although in its direct application it does not go beyond the Jews, yet applies in principle to the healing of every Gentile who, through grace, is brought to touch Jesus by faith.

Now this is what I find in this case I am speaking to you about. Here was a poor woman with her issue of blood and her body of disease, 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. And she came in the press behind, undeterred by the difficulties and impediments that stood in her way; she says, as it were, I must get into personal contact with Him, I must touch Him, even at the very extremity of His clothes, the hem of His garment, the fringe of blue which they wore. I believe that is what it was. Ah! it was a fringe of blue, without any question in His case: He was the Man from heaven, the heavenly Man. O how blessed the thought! If I may but touch, she says, the fringe, the hem, of that garment, I know there is virtue in Him, I count on His love, His goodness, His kindness, His willingness, His power; and if I can only, though it be on the extremity, get into contact with that, I believe I shall be whole."

(Vv. 27-29). Thirdly, faith is not only conscious of need, and our own helplessness to meet the need, but perceives something of the excellency of the Person of Jesus — sees, indeed, that in Him there is grace and power to meet the need. Moreover faith makes a person humble. The needy soul is ready to take the lowly place and to say, like the woman, "If I may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be whole." We have not to do some great thing to secure the blessing, that would only pander to our pride, but we are made willing to be nothing and to give Christ all the glory. The virtue is in Christ, not in the faith; the touch of faith secures the blessing by putting us in touch with the One in Whom is all the merit.

(Vv. 30-34). Then we see that the Lord delights to encourage faith. He is not content that the one who has received the blessing should go quietly away. He brings the believer into His own presence there to tell him all the truth. He delights that we should have everything out with Him — that there should be no distance or reserve between Himself and His own.

Lastly, we see the result of getting into the presence of the Lord and having all out with Him. Like the woman we can then go on our way, not trusting in our feelings or in some experience, however real, but with the assurance of His own word. Thus the woman learns from His own lips that she was healed, for He can say, "Thy faith has made thee whole."

It is worth noticing that the word sozo, usually translated in the New Testament "save," is employed in its general sense of deliverance in regard to the healing of this woman in all three accounts: Matt. 9:21-22; Mark 5:28, 34; Luke 8:48. It is also applied to the restoration of the daughter of Jairus, Mark 5:23; Luke 8:50; to the healing of Bartimaeus, Mark 10:52, Luke 18:42; of the Gadarene demoniac, Luke 8:36; of the Samaritan leper, Luke 17:19; of many that touched Jesus, Mark 6:56; of the impotent man at the temple gate, Acts 4:9; of the cripple at Lystra, Acts 14:9. In these instances the Greek word is translated "made whole," or, "healed." The disciples, speaking to the Lord concerning Lazarus, also made use of the word, and in this passage it is rendered "do well," or, "recover": "If he sleep he shall do well" (John 11:12).

(3)The utterance by our Lord of this form of benediction, "Go in peace," is only recorded in one other instance in the Gospels, and there, as on this occasion, it is associated with the faith that saved. To the woman who sought the Lord in Simon the Pharisee's house for the forgiveness of sins He said, as He did to this woman who came to Him for a temporal benefit, "Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace" (Luke 7:50). On account of this connection we are fairly entitled to regard these words as of greater significance than the ordinary farewell salutation of the East, such as we find in Ex. 4:18; Judges 18:6; 1 Sam. 1:17, 1 Sam. 20:13, 42; 2 Kings 5:19; Acts 15:33. The Lord was infinitely above human conventionality in speech, such as James condemns (James 2:16). He had come to "ordain peace" for His people in the best and surest sense.

The case of the woman with an issue of blood (Matthew 9:18-26) is stated in verses 25-27. How great must have been her trial and her sorrow during the twelve years of her uncleanness. Still greater was her faith and the testimony she bore to the holy Person of our Lord. All what 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.

And while our Lord goes forward to fulfill the request of the ruler, another incident comes in by the way. An unclean woman touches Him and is healed. "And behold a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years came behind and touched the hem of His garment; for she said within herself, if I should only touch His garment I shall be healed. But Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, 'Be of good courage, daughter, thy faith hath healed thee.' And the woman was healed from that hour" (verses 20-23). She represents the Gentiles and the grace which comes to them by faith, while the resurrection of Israel is still unaccomplished, but drawing' nigh. Faith touches Him now and receives of Him salvation with its precious assistance. But the touching of Him is parenthetical, just as the present age with salvation come to the Gentiles is a parenthesis. Jesus comes to the house of the ruler. It has the meaning of relationship. So will He come to raise up the daughter of Israel . "And when Jesus was come to the house of the ruler, and saw the flute players and the crowd making a tumult, He said, Withdraw, for the damsel is not dead, but sleeps. And they derided Him. But when the crowd had been put out, He went in and took her hand; and the damsel rose up. And the fame of it went out into all that land." May not the crowd of unbelievers and mockers represent nominal Christendom? Surely the same is in Christendom which we see here. The Lord has declared in His Word, eternally settled in the heavens, His loving purposes concerning Israel . It can well be said of His earthly people, as He said of the ruler's daughter, "The damsel is not dead, but sleeps." The Scriptures are full of promises to Israel and the day of their resurrection and restoration, yet Christendom treats all this with unbelief and ridicule. There is no understanding of God's purposes, the plan of the ages, and hence no heart and no love for the people, who are still beloved for the Father's sake and whose are the promises. Our Lord said to that crowd, "Withdraw," and they were put out of the scene, when He came and touched the damsel to raise her up. And may we not see in this also the end of the motley throng in Christendom, which will be put off the scene when He comes to do the miracle of His mercy and His power on Israel ?