A Woman in the Crowd

"A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding...She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, 'If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.'...And he said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over."

Mark 5:24-34 NLT

How long does it take before we give up hope? How long before we stop believing that healing is possible? When we suffer with something for an extended period of time, it can be hard to have hope that things will change. This particular woman spent twelve years of her life searching for healing. Not just physical healing, but a healing of her entire being. Her body needed healing, but so too did her emotional state and her social status.

In her time, the Jews followed Mosaic law, which stated that the only way to be considered right with God was to carry out His very specific instructions on how to do so. Those included making sacrifices in the temple to atone for sin. In order to do that, the people had to be "ceremonially clean" so that they could enter the Temple grounds and offer their sacrifices. If you were not ceremonially clean, then you did not get to participate in Temple worship.

In contrast, ceremonial uncleanliness was usually a temporary thing. For example, touching a dead carcass, having a serious skin disease, and other various instances made one unclean temporarily. During her monthly cycle, a woman was considered "unclean". Once that ended, she would go through a washing process and then seven days later she could go and make her sin offering and burnt offering through the priest and all would be right again.

But what happens when the temporary issue becomes a permanent one?

Leviticus 15:25 actually mentions the very specific problem of the woman in our story.

"If a woman has a flow of blood for many days that is unrelated to her menstrual period, or if the blood continues beyond the normal period, she is ceremonially unclean. As during her menstrual period, the woman will be unclean as long as the discharge continues."

Leviticus 15:25

So, there was no doubt that this woman was "unclean". There was no hoping for some loophole in the law that would excuse her of this chronic issue. No. It was as plain as day right there in black and white. She was unclean, and whoever and whatever she touched or that touched her would also become unclean. In other words, she was a walking plague among her Jewish community.

For this woman, her bleeding did not stop for twelve years. For twelve years she was unable to participate in religious ceremonies. For twelve years no one could touch her without 'defiling' themself as well. For twelve years she experienced a great deal of rejection and remained a social outcast. For twelve years she was not able to invite anyone into her home or be invited into the home of another. Mark tells us that she "suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them".

Can you imagine how lonely she felt? Can you imagine how many people probably criticized her and told her that God was punishing her? Can you imagine how desperate she must have been for a miracle.

We know next to nothing about this woman, but we do know that she believed in this man called Jesus, and that he was in her town that day, and she came expecting a miracle. Mark tells us that she had only heard about him, but that's all it took. She knew that he had the power to heal. She knew, when she saw him coming, that she had one shot at getting her life back. And if it didn't work? Well, what did she have to lose? I feel like she may have been erring on the side of 'it's better to ask forgiveness than permission.'

After she snuck her way through the crowd, in desperation, she reached out to touch the hem of his robe. In an instant the healing power went out from him. Like an involuntary reflex to her faith, Jesus had healed her! And she knew it immediately! But when he started to ask who had touched him, she became afraid. There were a lot of other people around him that would've also been touching him, but she knew what he meant. He was looking for her.

Just like God calling to Adam in the garden after he and Eve had committed the first sin. God knew where Adam was, but He wanted Adam to come to Him and admit what he had done. Here, Jesus wanted the woman to come forward. He could've just kept walking. Only he and the woman would've known what had happened. He didn't have to call her out like that. I am positive that she was both embarrassed and utterly terrified.

What would be the consequences of this? An unclean person had just touched another person. Would it make him unclean? Would they stone her for having touched him, knowing that she would be defiling this great teacher who many believed was the Messiah? Would he reject her too? In that moment, she had to be fearing the worst. Still, she came forward and admitted with she had done.

But Jesus, rich in love and kindness, undefiled by this contaminated woman who had just seemingly stolen Jesus' healing power, used one phrase that would restore her completely. In front of the entire crowd there that day, in front of all the people who had kept her pushed into the margins of existence, he said, "Daughter, your faith has made you well." Jesus knew that she not only needed her body restored, but also her status and place in the community.

By calling her daughter, Jesus proclaimed to the crowd that she was no longer an outcast. No longer did she need to hide in the shadows of rejection. No longer was she to be scorned and avoided. No longer was she a cursed woman. She was now clean! Everything about her was restored that day!

In our lives today, we have a choice to make. This woman tried for years to get healing her way, but only when she reached out to Jesus in faith was she finally restored. Her faith made her well. Here we see the proof that God rewards those who come to Him in faith (Hebrews 11:6).

This woman got the healing she was expecting, and then some!

Many times, asking God for healing works just as we hope. Other times, we are healed in different ways.

Maybe the cancer doesn't go away, but you learn to live with it, trusting God and becoming a walking testimony of His goodness in your affliction. That is still healing.

Maybe your marriage did end, even after you begged God to restore it, but He brought you closer to Himself through the process. That is still healing.

Maybe you lost that child, but God used that loss to create in you a ministry to support other grieving mothers, and now you have found peace and purpose again. That is still healing.

Let us not forget, however, it is still a choice. We can choose to suffer. We can choose to wallow in self-pity. We can spend the rest of our lives dripping with melancholic negativity, or we can choose healing. We can choose Jesus!

Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we are to do what this woman did and take action! Reach out to Jesus in faith, with full confidence that he is who the Bible says he is and he did what the Bible says he did. With that, we can rest in the assurance that no matter what the situation or disease is, we can find true and complete healing in Christ!

Healing IS possible. All you have to do is reach out to Him in faith. Will you trust Him today?

Stay humble, stay hungry, and keep choosing the Good Portion!