An Encounter With Christ

Mark 5:24-34

Mark 5:24-34 And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. [25] And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, [26] and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. [27] She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. [28] For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” [29] And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. [30] And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” [31] And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” [32] And he looked around to see who had done it. [33] But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. [34] And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” (ESV)

Introduction

Mark 5:24 And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.

Previously in this fifth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus cast demons out of the man called Legion in Gadara. Jesus and His disciples have made their way back to the other side of the Sea of Galilee towards Capernaum. Upon landing Jesus is met by a ruler of a synagogue. His name was Jairus and his daughter was at the point of death. Jairus pleaded with Jesus to come to where his daughter lay and heal her. Jesus agrees and is on his way to Jairus’ home when an amazing event takes place.

Jesus notoriety drew a “great crowd” everywhere He went. Mark uses the word “thronged” to help us visualize the scene. Thronged means to “press together.” It is the idea of being drowned. If you want to be thronged, just go to an event that has a great crowd. When exiting any event where there is a large amount of people, you will be thronged. That herding effect, of shuffling along with everyone else, can be disturbing, especially if the person on your right is trying to get to the other side by cutting in front of you.

I have been thronged in a packed elevator or exiting a concert or sporting event. I was bumped on every side. That is considered “OK” in our culture as that is what happens in crowded places.

Jesus and His disciples were experiencing being crowded and jammed by people wanting to see the young Rabbi, who had the ability to heal. As they were making their way to Jairus’ daughter, many were just curious, while others wanted to see a person healed or to see a “sign.” Many wondered if He was the long-awaited Messiah. And others wanted Jesus to heal them. Some gathered to hear Jesus speak. Everyone had a reason to be there and crowd control was getting very difficult for the disciples.

A Woman’s Great Need

[25] And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, [26] and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. [27] She had heard the reports about Jesus

We do not know much about this woman. We are not given this woman’s age or if she was married, had children or where she lived. With that said, there is a lot that we do know.

She had a malady that has caused her great discomfort, loss of finances and separation from her loved ones and her religious practices.

Her plight was terrible. She was an outcast because of something that she could not control. She spent all of her money trying to find a cure and she was no better off now than when she started. She was alone!

As she was a Jew, she would have been ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15:25-28), meaning she could not participate in her religious practices. She could not enter the gates to go to the Temple.

She would have to shout out “Unclean, Unclean” as she made her way down the street. Some would cast stones at her if she got to close to them for they did not want to be ceremonially unclean. She would have no visitors.

We do not know how she heard about Jesus and His ability to heal, but she was given hope: “She had heard the reports about Jesus.” Could this teacher/healer cure her from this disease that plagued her for 12 years? Could his touch undo all that was wrong in her body? Could she be healed and restored to full fellowship with friends, family and God? Could he make her life new again?

A Woman’s Great Resolve

“…came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. [28] For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”

With great resolve, she left the comfort and protection of her home and ventured out into the streets to meet this man. “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”

I marvel at her faith. She has seen all the specialists and been to the priests. No one could help her. Except now she shows great faith. She decided that she would go and see this man. She would not bring attention to herself by confronting Jesus, she would simply get close enough to touch his “pant leg” so to speak.

Her tenacity and determination helped her get ready to meet the Master. She would be dressed head to toe, so that others could not see her sores. She would break several laws, possibly leading to her own death by not shouting “Unclean” as she made her way the crowd. For if she did, she would never get close enough to the Rabbi.

By touching Jesus’ garment, she technically renders him ceremonially unclean (cf. Lev. 15:19–23), but Jesus is greater than any purity laws, for he makes her clean by his power instead of becoming unclean himself (cf. Mark 1:41; 5:41).[1]

Mark 5:29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

I have tried to understand the plight of what this woman had gone through these last twelve years. And try as I might, I can’t really appreciate her predicament, I have not personally experienced it. Moreover, I have some idea of what she must have felt as she was healed. She knew instantaneously that she was healed. Peace and joy must have overwhelmed her. Now she could freely be among the community. She could take up with her friends and family once again. No more visits to the doctor. She could once again go to the market without having to shout “unclean.” She could visit the “court of the women” at Temple. Try as I may, I am sure that I fall way to short of what her elation must have been. One second she was poor, without hope, an outcast to even her own family and friends. And the next, she was restored: COMPLETLEY restored.

A Woman’s Great Testimony

[30] And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” [31] And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” [32] And he looked around to see who had done it. [33] But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. [34] And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.

In the midst of her inward joy, the attention of the whole crowd is centered on her. The instant that she was healed, Jesus was aware that something had happened (of course nothing ever caught Jesus unaware). It became immediately aware to Jesus that God had exercised His power through Him.The crowd that was following Jesus, suddenly was halted as Jesus proclaims, “Who touched my garments?” Two people in that crowded thoroughfare knew, but no one else did.

The disciples were both puzzled and confused. They replied to His question with another question, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’”

I have the feeling that the woman, now cured, planned to simply slip away from the crowd and go her way, rejoicing. But Jesus words must have stopped her in her tracks; “Who touched me?” On the one hand, she was cured, happy and rejoicing. On the other hand, she was being called out by the Rabbi. His question needed answering.

With “fear and trembling” she forced her way through the crowd to Jesus and once there, she fell down before him. It was not lost on her that her actions would have made everyone in the crowd, including the Rabbi, ceremonially unclean. She could have been stoned on the spot for not following the requirement of shouting “unclean” or even being in a crowded road. On her face, before Jesus, she confessed that she is the one who touched His garment and was made whole. She felt a deep reverence for the power of the Rabbi that could heal her diseased body.

What a testimony she proclaimed to the crowd. She had been healed by the Rabbi and is filled with gratitude. “Where once I was diseased, now I am completely healed.”

The message that the stalled crowd heard was one of joy and hope. It must have lifted their spirits. They knew for sure that they were in the company of one who had been healed and another that could cure and heal them.

There is one other person who this news must have given hope to, Jairus. They were on the way to his house to see if the Rabbi could heal his dying daughter. I believe God gives him hope, as on the way, he heard with his own eyes and ears that Jesus had the power to heal. I wonder if it put a bounce in his step.

Conclusion

“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Your faith has made you well would suggest both physical and spiritual healing, for Greek sōzō can mean either “heal” or “save.” The woman’s faith in Jesus for physical healing at the same time became faith in him for salvation from sin (cf. note on Matt. 9:22).[2]

Jesus’ voice is so tender after the woman’s testimony; it was beautiful. “Your faith has made you well.” I wasn’t there that day to see the woman who had an issue of blood healed. But I believe that she was both physically and spiritually healed that day in the first century.

However , I was there the day that Jesus asked me the question, “Who touched me.” Oh I didn’t reach out and touch the physical hem of his garment. But, I did reach out to Christ to heal me from my sins. I spiritually reached out my hand and was rewarded by being spiritually healed. The joy and peace the woman felt that day, laying face first in the dusty street is the same way I felt kneeling on that carpeted floor in the sanctuary of Sherrelwood Baptist Church in Denver.

There were many in that crowd surrounding Jesus that day, and yet we are only told the story of Jairus and the “woman with an issue of blood.” They each sought out Jesus, and each of them met the Master that day.

How about you today? Are you ready to have an encounter with the Messiah? Just reach out…and…touch the hem of His garment in faith and you too can be healed.

[1] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1902.

[2] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1903.