Where FAITH & LOVE Meet

Have you ever felt like one hard thing keeps piling up on another? Does it seem like there is no end in sight? It may be health, finances, relationships, work, school, our own sin, or sin against us. Maybe it is a combination of several things. For me, it has been my health. It started years ago with the chronic pain and neuropathy. Then there were cancer problems and ongoing fatigue. The past two weeks I’ve been sick. I don’t remember what it feels like to not be in pain or tired or facing another test. Perhaps it the same for you. It’s hard to imagine a life without the hard things piling up.

I’ve read Mark 5:25-34 before, but this time I could see many people I know reflected in the woman in this account. People whose lives have been altered often dramatically. People who feel alone, isolated, and even shamed. People who are at the end, perhaps have lost hope. People who desperately need Jesus. Let’s read.

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.”[1]

We are introduced to “a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years.” Sounds inconvenient, but it is much more than an inconvenience. The discharge of blood made this woman unclean (Leviticus 20:18) both socially and religiously. Socially, she could not touch others and others could not touch her or they would be made unclean. This means she was never able to marry or if she had been married when the bleeding started, her husband likely divorced her. Possibly she couldn’t live with family or friends for fear of making them unclean. She was isolated. Most people felt the isolation from COVID even with seeing a family or friend. Can you imagine twelve years of isolation from human contact?

Not only did her uncleanness isolate her socially, but it isolated her spiritually. She would not have been allowed to worship at the temple or a synagogue. Sometimes we choose not to attend corporate worship, but this woman didn’t have a choice. For twelve years, she was isolated from public worship.

Twelve years! This is difficult for me to even fathom, but that isn’t all this woman endured. Verse 26 tells us that she had “suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had.” This woman tried to get help. She spent all her money to be made well again. Have you felt like you’ve exhausted all your resources seeking relief from the hard things in your life? You don’t know what else to do? This woman probably felt the same, and as she experienced, sometimes the places where we seek help often cause more suffering. I know many of the tests and treatments I’ve gone through have been unpleasant and often hurt more than the original ailment.

We endure such things because we hope it will alleviate or reduce our hard thing, but this woman “was no better but rather grew worse.” This would drive most people to despair and hopelessness. However, this woman “had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind Him in the crowd” (vs 27). We know Jesus, but how often midst our hard things do we stop and come to Jesus? Often my husband and two of our graduated youth group boys brainstorm projects together. They each have knowledge and gifts, and they help each other get to the best solutions. God has graciously given us other people to help us, but first, last and in all the in between, we should be seeking Jesus for the help we need. He has all wisdom and knowledge to help. He is omnipotent. He is sovereign over all things. He is faithful. He is good. He is our refuge. He is merciful and gracious. Jesus is what we ultimately need.

The woman heard about Jesus and found Him. We read that she came up from behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment because she thought that even touching His garment might make her well (vs 27-28). There is no other account of people touching Jesus’ clothes and being healed. Maybe this woman heard some superstitious talk, but regardless, she had faith to reach out to Jesus. Yes, she came anonymously in a crowd. She tried to quietly touch Jesus’ garment for her healing, and probably thought to disappear afterwards. Regardless, this woman heard about Jesus, she came to Jesus, she reached out to Jesus in faith, and Jesus met her with love.

“And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power had gone out from Him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my garments?’” (vs 29-30) Nowhere else in Scripture do we read of power going out from Jesus. It isn’t as if Jesus didn’t have control of His power to heal the woman, but “wishing to honor the woman’s faith, willingly extended His healing power to her.”[2]

This unclean woman touched Jesus’ garment. Instead of making Jesus unclean, Jesus made her whole. In an instant, her entire life was altered forever.

Jesus wasn’t adding another healing to His tally. He could’ve let the woman disappear back into the crowd, but He sought her. Jesus is personal. His purpose wasn’t merely a physical healing. He wanted the woman to know Him personally and be known.

You may have thought how silly it was with the crowds pressing in all around Jesus, for Him to ask, “Who touched my garments?” His disciples thought so (vs 31). But as we are beginning to see, Jesus had a purpose. The woman responded to Jesus’ question, “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” (vs 33). The woman knew she had been healed by Jesus. She came with fear and trembling – awe – and fell at Jesus feet, telling Him the whole truth.

Jesus knows all things, but He wants us to come to Him and share everything that is in our hearts and minds. He wants us to share the hard things, the hurt, the loneliness, the frustration, all of it because He cares. He listens. He responds with love.

“And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease’” (vs 34). This is the only time we read of Jesus addressing a woman as daughter. For twelve years, she has been isolated. Now, she has been brought near, called daughter, shown love. Jesus didn’t want her to have some anonymous “magical” healing experience. He wanted to bring her into personal relationship with Himself. Jesus met her faith with love.

I think this was the most important purpose Jesus had in bringing the woman forward, but there are other purposes. He highlighted that her healing was not from common contact, bumping into Jesus in the crowd. It was by faith. He made it clearly known to the woman and all those around that she was healed; she was permanently clean. She could have contact with others now and worship at the temple or synagogue. And Jesus encouraged Jairus’ faith.

See, our story was an interlude in another story. Jairus’ daughter was near death. He had come to Jesus to ask Jesus to heal his daughter. Jesus went with him. Can you imagine how excited and relieved Jairus must have been that Jesus agreed to come with him? But then, this scene with the woman happens. If I were Jairus, I would’ve been angry. There was no time to waste. Why did Jesus care if someone bumped Him in the crowd? Does the woman have to tell the whole truth? But Jairus got to witness a miracle brought on by faith.

Jesus was still speaking to the woman when, “there came from the ruler’s house some who said, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe’” (vs 35-36). Jairus is told his daughter has died, but Jesus calls him to have faith, faith like he had just witnessed in the woman.

God does not promise that He will always heal as He did with the woman and Jairus’ daughter. He does promise that He is working all things for our good to conform us to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:28-29), and that nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:35-39). So even in the hard things, even when the hard things come one after another, Jesus is right there with us, loving us. He endured the hardest thing that no other man could endure. He took on flesh, suffered, died, was forsaken by the Father, and then resurrected to sit at the Father’s right hand, so that you and I would never be forsaken. We can always know God’s loving care. The hard things in our lives are temporary. Whether Jesus heals or rescues us from them or not, He is with us through them. Relationship with Him is what will last eternally, and one day we will be with Jesus forever and there will be no more hard things, no more tears, no more pain. Only sweet fellowship with Jesus.

Reflection

1. When hard things come, do you go to Jesus? Do you seek out others who will point you to Jesus? Or is Jesus an after thought? We can cultivate going to Jesus in the hard things by going to Jesus every day throughout the day in all the small things. Build a habit of praying and talking to God about all things.

2. Do you view your relationship with Jesus in a personal, intimate way? When God describes the church, it is in personal, familial terms – children of God, brothers/sisters of Christ, the bride of Christ. Jesus was on His way to save Jairus’ daughter from death, yet He took the time to heal the woman, call her forward, listen to her story, and to speak to her. He cares about your story. He always has time for you. He loves you.

3. Are you growing in faith? Do you believe that nothing is impossible with God? Do you trust God to lovingly care for you even if it isn’t in the way you want? If you are struggling with trusting God to care for you in your hard things, ask God to grow your faith. Ask a friend to pray for your faith to grow. Read other Biblical accounts of people of faith (Hebrews 11 is a starting point). Meditate on an attribute of God each day and how that attribute makes God more than able to best care for you in your hard things (and the not so hard things too).

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 5:25–34. [2] John D. Grassmick, “Mark,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 125.