Mark 5:30-34 30And immediately Jesus, knowing within himself that the power had gone out from him, turning around in the crowd said, “Who touched my clothing?” 31And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32And he looked around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, being afraid and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace, and be whole from your suffering.”
As seems typical of so many accounts thus far in Mark, many people crowded around Jesus as he made his way to the house. Many of them touched and jostled him along the way, but he noticed one special touch. He could have kept walking but instead, stopped and took time to speak with the desperate woman. The description in verse 30 is difficult to understand. Just as the woman sensed healing inside her body, Jesus felt power leave him. Many people were probably touching Jesus at that moment, but he sensed the act of faith.
Jesus’ question, Who touched my clothes? could be interpreted two ways. First, the skeptic might say that Jesus did not know who touched him. But nothing in Mark’s Gospel so far puts such a limit on Jesus. He was not like a battery that was suddenly depleted of power. The other option is to interpret this question as the opportunity for faith to be completed. It allowed the woman to step forward in a form of testimony of her faith in Jesus. She could have disappeared in the crowd, and no one, except Jesus, would have known what had happened. The disciples were curious about the situation, another indicator that they did not understand who Jesus is. They missed the importance of faith. The desperate woman knew more about Jesus than the disciples who had been with him through many events thus far.
Instead of escaping, the woman bravely stepped forward to confess what she had done. Her response to Jesus was fear, trembling, and worship. She may have been afraid of what he would say to her, perhaps expecting a scolding like she had received from other Jewish holy men. She was ceremonially unclean because of her bleeding and could have been rejected and ostracized by Jesus, but he warmly welcomed her and called her daughter. She was honest with Jesus, not hiding any of her story. She had the opportunity to pour out her heart to someone who healed her. The object of her faith warmly accepted her. Her faith had found a resting place and was completed when she expressed her inner struggles to Jesus.
Jesus’ last words to her contain three significant thoughts. First, Jesus acknowledged her faith and how it had saved her. The verb saved (sesōken) is the same word used by Jairus in his plea for Jesus to heal his daughter in verse 23. There may be more implied in the word than simply physical healing. Faith brings full salvation from sin and all the effects of encroaching death, including illnesses like what this woman had. Second, Jesus pronounces peace (eirēnēn). Like in the Old Testament (the Hebrew word shalom), peace in the New Testament can mean health and wholeness; everything coming together and in its right place. The woman’s life could be restored along with her health. No longer would she be ceremonially unclean. She can once again participate fully in society. Third, she would be whole from her suffering. Whole (hygiēs) can have a moral sense of being uncorrupted (Titus 2:8), but here it likely has a broad sense of complete healing. Her physical suffering was ended, but so were her doubts and fears.
The journey of this woman is like the one many people follow. They are in a desperate and lonely situation, perhaps due to a physical or psychological illness. They try all the latest health remedies and follow doctors’ advice, but nothing helps. Their condition has affected their whole lives: relationships, employment, place in society, and so forth. They have no hope. But they hear about Jesus and that sparks hope that grows into faith. The challenge for such people (and we all are like this in one way or another) is not to let this hope fade but to push in perseverance until they find Jesus and reach out to touch him. The touch of faith replaces fear with wholeness.
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