The Woman With The Issue Of Blood

The Woman with an Issue of Blood

Mark 5:21–43 NKJV

Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.” So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.

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.”

While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”

As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.”

And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement. But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.

A few weeks ago, I opened my Bible software which was supposedly set for the lectionary passage for the week which I read came from Matthew 9:18-26. I was a little puzzled why this passage would be in the lectionary as Matthew is not the gospel text for this lectionary year. But I wrote it up as the sermon “The Raising of Jairus’ Daughter and was about to publish it when my program crashed. When it came back up, the lectionary was blank. The entire year 2024 was deleted. when I finally got things back in order, I found out that it was not the lectionary text at all. But I published the sermon anyway. In that sermon, I concentrated on the raising of Jairus’ daughter as the account of healing the woman with the issue of blood is quite short. I said to myself that I would handle the haling of the woman with the issue of blood when the text came up in Mark who treats this with far more detail. I didn’t have to preach that Sunday anyway as I was going to a gathering at the Cove in the Billy Graham center that weekend. Little did I know that the sermon that Sunday was on the healing of the woman with the issue of blood from the gospel of Luke. And today, when I opened the lectionary for June 30, the this text from Mark came up. I ordinarily don’t include personal experience in my sermons, but this was so “coincidental” that I felt the need to mention this. So what does the Lord want us to learn from this text in Mark,

One of the things we first notice about the text is that it is the longest treatment of the healing of Jairus’ daughter. Mark usually has shorter accounts than Matthew or Luke. He treats the Baptism and Temptation of Jesus in a few short sentences. The calling of the fishermen is also short. And so on. So what does it mean when Mark goes to great length in describing an incident? It indicates how important this passage was to Mark, or to Peter who is said to have provided the material for Mark’s gospel. This is true anytime that a writer uses words or literary style which is out of the ordinary for him.