Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.
For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”
But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.
And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
Mark 5:25-34
Everything in Mark chapter 5 concerns itself with healing and restoration: from the healing and restoring of a demon possessed man to the resurrection of a little girl. In-between these two healings are that of the woman in our opening scripture. A progression is shown in this chapter:
1. A healing that was not directly asked for, but was implied by the demon possessed man
2. A direct request by a religious ruler to heal his daughter
3. A healing that came by the faith in the power of Jesus by the woman
Notice that Jesus tells her it was her faith that made her whole. Again, notice that He said whole and not just well! Some of the medications we take for our illnesses never cure, but only mask the symptoms. Jesus’s healings are whole and complete. Not only is the base issue resolved, but everything else related to it is resolved. In all these healings there were social, economic, mental, and emotional issues besides the base issue being healed.
• Spiritually defeated demon possessed man because many demons he had lost his mind. In that mental state he was a social leaper. Being that he was a social leaper, he could not be employed or be an employer, so there was no income. Even though he was possessed with demons his emotional state was in the deepest of depressions.
• The death of the religious leader’s daughter brought a depressed mental state. In the Jewish custom they believe that tragedy in one’s life is brought on by the amount of sin in your life. So, the leader was going to be shunned by his peers and others, because no one wanted to be associated with a sinner. The grieving is one of emotion and anyone who has lost a loved one knows this emotional state. Lastly, he would be in danger of losing his job because of the sin they believed he had in his life.
• Social leper that the woman would be because of her discharge of blood, which labeled her as unclean. The Mosaic states that any woman with an issue of blood past her normal time of discharge shall be put away from others for the duration and labeled unclean. She can have contact with others, but if they touch anything she sat on, laid on, or touched would also be unclean until the evening, so people would normally avoid her. In this state she could not make a living if she were a single woman. Throwing in the mental state of not knowing when one would get better could be nerve racking. Not to mention the emotional state she must be in being alone and forgotten.
Being made whole is far better than just being healed. Our wounds can be healed, but one or more of the other related issues may not be. Here is a real-life illustration of this point.
For two decades, Wayne Messmer, forty-nine, was an announcer and singer for sports teams in the Windy City. After singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a Chicago Blackhawks game in 1994, Messmer was shot by two teenage boys. The bullet passed through the singer’s throat, so doctors weren’t sure if Messmer would sing again. Amazingly, six months later, Messmer returned to the microphone.
Physical healing was one thing; emotional release of the hatred and resentment he felt was another. For that, Messmer had to trust Christ, his Savior, to help him reach the point where he could forgive his shooters. When he did, he found freedom. As he says in The Voice of Victory, “Over a period of contemplative and reflective prayer and meditation, I was confident I had set myself free from the chains that had connected me to the incident.”
Although one of the boys had been released on a plea bargain, the other, James Hampton, was still in jail. To prove that he truly had forgiven his would-be killers, Messmer drove 225 miles to Galesburg Correctional Center and asked to see Hampton.
Several years had passed, but Messmer found the grace to say, “James, I’m here to see how you are doing.” After a two-hour emotional visit, Messmer turned to leave. Reaching out and touching Hampton’s forearm, he offered a benediction: “James, I bid you peace.”
I hope all that sinks in because now I want to get to the next part of the healing…the woman’s faith. Jesus said that was what healed her. So important is this message, about the woman with an issue of blood, that it is spoken of in three of the four Gospels. God wants you to know that it is your faith that releases the power of Jesus. We see here that she put her faith in to action to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment.
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
James 2:26
In all the cases where Jesus healed outside of a few: the healing of the blind man, the healing of the man with a shriveled arm, and the woman who was hunched over, which were done to show others that Jesus was the Messiah, all others were done where the persons tried to approach Jesus in some way, shape, or form. So what James is saying is this: sitting at home saying I believe, I believe, but not doing anything to call that faith in action is a dead faith and will do nothing but waste time. During our problems, we need to stop saying woe is me, but instead look to Jesus and say, “if thou will you can make me whole.” That is where we put our faith into action, by approaching Jesus with them and He will not turn you away. Because in that statement you state that it is possible but is it available for me at this moment. You believe it will be done and have the patience to wait for Jesus to bring it about.
The only time the bible records unresolved miracles is when Jesus went to His hometown, where He did not perform any miracles, not because He couldn’t, but because they would not allow Him to. Their faith was nonexistent and so they would not except healings.
In our opening verses the woman risked being stoned, because that was the penalty for not announcing your uncleanliness when an unclean person is out and about. She disregarded the penalty because her faith in Jesus was greater than the consequences of her actions. Again, remember from the verses she believed that the touch of His garment would heal her. Also remember that when Jesus noticed the power surge, He asked who touched me? The disciples were confused because the scripture says that they were in a crowd of people, who were all touching Him, yet none of them cause power to flow from Jesus.
What I am trying to get you to see that it was not in the touching of His garment, but in the belief that any part of Jesus will solve the problem. Don’t get it twisted in your head that your problem is too big for Jesus. Jesu has healed from a distance. He has healed with a mere touch of His hand. He has healed and restored with the spoken word when He told Lazarus to come out of the tomb. He has removed demons and calms the seas. I think He can handle your problem.
Okay, so I hope that we now know that we need to approach Jesus in our afflictions. Well, now let me throw this little caveat out there…the healing my not come when you want it. We sometimes get depressed when we pray for relief, and it does not happen quickly. But we need to know this.
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
James 1:2-4
Sometimes that healing will take time, during which God is working on your patience. As James says, that in so doing you will be perfect and complete, wanting nothing. Joyful patience within faith is what it takes sometimes for our healings to take place. Go about life as best you can, holding out hope that Jesus will fix it in due time.
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Matthew 17:20
The woman in our opening scripture had that kind of faith, and it indeed moved mountains. That mountain was her twelve years of discharge, gone in an instant. Faith, action, perseverance, and patience:
• Faith to seek out Jesus.
• The action of getting out of her house to touch Jesus’ clothes.
• Perseverance, to maneuver through the crowd come what may.
• Patience, to wait on the healing, as she did not know when it would come about.
When we exercise that type of faith during our trials, we also will become whole.
