A Bloody Mess

When the Bleeding Won’t Stop

Mark 5:24–34 CSB

24 So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against him. 25 Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years 26 had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse. 27 Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing. 28 For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.” 29 Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But he was looking around to see who had done this. 33 The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”

Now

Maybe you are here in Body alone, but spiritually you are dry.

-You have been praying for years about an “Issue” that God has yet to resolve

-Maybe it is a Job

-maybe it is living single and wanting to get married.

-Maybe it is a sickness in your body.

-maybe it is a loveless relationship w/Husband or Wife.

-maybe it is the salvation of your Children

-Maybe it is a relationship that needs to be reconciled

-Maybe it is death that you cannot seem to have closure on

-Maybe it is several of these that are pressing against you

-I know the pain of disappointment I know what it means to lose hope and to give up.

Listen to some of the Saints describe this pain of waiting

1 samuel 1:9-11 “9 On one occasion, Hannah got up after they ate and drank at Shiloh. The priest Eli was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple. 10 Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. 11 Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Armies, if you will take notice of your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.””

psalm 73:13-14 “13 Did I purify my heart and wash my hands in innocence for nothing? 14 For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning.”

Job 3:1-3 “1 After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born. 2 He said: 3 May the day I was born perish, and the night that said, “A boy is conceived.””

-Jesus on the Cross “my God my God why have you forsaken me”

2 Corinthians 12:6-7 “6 For if I want to boast, I wouldn’t be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I will spare you, so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me, 7 especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself.”

Then

-Jesus has been healing and preaching so much so that his fame had spread to the point his movement was affected by the large crowd.

-In Mark 5 Jesus crosses over the Jordan to get some alone time and  exorcises a demon possessed man while he was over there, and the people of that town get so angry at Jesus that ask him to leave immediately.  When he gets back into the boat and returns to Galilee, that same crowd is waiting for him….Luke 8:40 “40And as Jesus returned, the people welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him.

-When Jesus gets to the Galilee side he is immediately approached by Jairus who was a synagogue official that was pleading with Jesus about the life of his little daughter

-Inside the narrative about Jairus daughter is a narrative about a hurting woman; an outcast, unclean, discouraged, poor, and abandon; yet desperately hopeful. While traveling to heal Jairus Daughter he has an encounter with a very sick woman.

Now

-God uses the trials in our lives to make us desperate for him to maximize his Glory and grow our faith.

I.  Her Diagnosis

Mark 5:25–26 CSB

25 Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years 26 had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse.

(v.26) This woman had a discharge (hemorrhage) of blood for twelve years.  This was most likely a continuous 12-year menstrual period, and this is before modern sanitary accommodation. Women used cloths that had to be used and washed over and over again.  Twelve years of this type of ailment would have hindered her ability to bear children which to a Jewish Woman was the ultimate shame.  There is also another problem for this women, she would have been cut off from all religious life in the Jewish Culture, so she would have lost her church family.

- Leviticus 15:19-27

Leviticus 15:19–27 CSB

19 “When a woman has a discharge, and it consists of blood from her body, she will be unclean because of her menstruation for seven days. Everyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. 20 Anything she lies on during her menstruation will become unclean, and anything she sits on will become unclean. 21 Everyone who touches her bed is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 22 Everyone who touches any furniture she was sitting on is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 23 If discharge is on the bed or the furniture she was sitting on, when he touches it he will be unclean until evening. 24 If a man sleeps with her, and blood from her menstruation gets on him, he will be unclean for seven days, and every bed he lies on will become unclean. 25 “When a woman has a discharge of her blood for many days, though it is not the time of her menstruation, or if she has a discharge beyond her period, she will be unclean all the days of her unclean discharge, as she is during the days of her menstruation. 26 Any bed she lies on during the days of her discharge will be like her bed during menstrual impurity; any furniture she sits on will be unclean as in her menstrual period. 27 Everyone who touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening.

-this condition left her physical unclean and it left anything she came into contact with as unclean.

Ramification of her uncleanness

1. Constantly cleaning herself and her home.

2. Generally speaking she would have been homebound-(every time she left the home she would have to yell to the crowd unclean)

3. No visitors, which would have made marriage and childbearing impossible. As well as total separation from the local synagogue (place of worship)

4. Physical implication-due to the hemorrhaging she would have also had very low blood pressure, which would lead to weakness and dizziness……If that was not enough

(v.26) She had been prescribed all kinds of medicinal remedies from the local physician that left her poor and destitute……The would be enough but look at the part of the text “but rather she had grown worse”

What is your diagnosis now? where have you given up hope?

-Health issues, getting Married, troubled Marriage, Unsaved Family members, loneliness, loss of purpose, financial issues, job trials, grief from the death of a loved one. Be honest the Lord knows it anyway!!

II. Her Desperation

Mark 5:27–28 CSB

27 Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing. 28 For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.”

-The woman was so desperate that she became poor looking for the solution to this infirmity.  The scripture says physicians (plural) meaning she tried all the human sources that she knew of, but did not find any relief.

-This desperation caused her to set aside all cultural, and religious protocol to get to Jesus. (gender, uncleanness)

Mark 5:24 CSB

So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against him.

(v.24) “pressing on him”- To press around someone one so almost to suffocate someone.

(v.27b) “she came up behind him” this tells you a couple of things

a. In ancient Israel a women did not touch a man without his approval

b. feeling cursed and forsaken she did not want to make Jesus any madder at her than she thought he already was…..it was almost like she was going to steal a healing from him without him knowing.

-Where would she get this crazy idea that just touching him would bring a healing?

-(v.27) “after hearing about Jesus” (v.28) “For she thought, If I just touch His garments, I will get well”……..

Luke 6:17-19 “17 After coming down with them, he stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples and a great number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those tormented by unclean spirits were made well. 19 The whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing them all.”

-This woman’s faith was built up by the miracles that Jesus had done in the lives of those around her…She heard about these stories so she must have felt that If he can heal the lepers (who were unclean), the demon-possessed and the blind then he just might be able to heal me also.

Application

1.  Relationships need to be tested to validate their authenticity. Sometimes God will bring trouble to make you desperate for him

2.  To those who have received a breakthrough tell your testimony because it will help to build the faith of those who feel forgotten and forsaken.

III. Her Declaration

Mark 5:29–33 CSB

29 Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But he was looking around to see who had done this. 33 The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

-Luke 8:44 “44 approached from behind and touched the end of his robe. Instantly her bleeding stopped.”

-haptomai-connect, bind, or adhere to

Our English word “touch” does not fully capture this word

This woman held onto Jesus garment until her change came. She said I ain’t letting him go till he heals.

(v.30-31) Jesus asked “Who is the one who touches me?”  the disciples look at him like he was crazy and mildly rebuked him

(v.32-33) This leads to an observation: Jesus had healed people before based on them touching him that he did not call out. Why would he stop to take notice of this woman’s act of faith? By stopping to recognize this woman he was teaching a spiritual principle “if you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, in due time you shall be exalted” Jesus stop to give her a platform to give testimony.

-Notice her response to his question: She came

a. Humbly (she came fearing and trembling, and she fell down in worship before him)

b. Honestly (she told him the whole truth) ……she told her medical history in front of the whole crowd. She told the crowd that no physician could heal her, she told that crowd that she had not had any human interaction in 12 years.  Then she told the crowd that she just thought that if she could get to Jesus she could be healed.

IV. Her Dedication

Mark 5:34 CSB

34 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”

(v.34) “And he said to her, Daughter” Jesus just called this unclean woman daughter.  There are two Greek words used to describe daughter.  This is the only time in the Gospel that Jesus uses this term to describe anyone.  Essentially he was saying “that’s my baby” a term of endearment. It is also the term that Jairus used in (v.23) to describes his daughter.

Major Themes in This Passage

1. Faith that Reaches for Jesus

Real faith moves toward Christ despite obstacles.

2. Jesus Sees the Invisible

She tried to remain hidden, but Jesus noticed her faith.

3. Jesus Restores the Outcast

He does not just heal her body—He restores her dignity.

4. Power Flows Through Faith

The miracle occurred when faith connected with Christ.

Key Discussion Questions for a Bible Study

What obstacles might have prevented the woman from coming to Jesus?

Why do you think she approached Jesus secretly?

What is the difference between and touching Jesus casually or touching Him in faith?

Why did Jesus insist on identifying the person who touched Him?

How does this story encourage believers who have suffered for a long time?

Practical Life Applications

1. Bring Long-Term Problems to Jesus She had suffered for 12 years but still came to Christ.

2. Faith Requires Action She moved through the crowd to reach Him.

3. Jesus Is Never Too Busy for Faith Even on the way to another miracle, Jesus stopped.

4. Jesus Cares About the Individual In a massive crowd, Jesus focused on one hurting person.