Mark 5:24b-29 24And a great crowd followed him and pressed upon him.25And there was a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years 26and had suffered greatly under many physicians and had spent all that she had and had received no benefit but had only gotten worse. 27She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28For she was saying, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29And immediately, her flow of blood dried up, and she knew in her body that she was healed of her disease.
Jesus was on his way to the home of Jairus when he was interrupted by a desperate woman. The people were all around Jesus as he walked, with people jockeying for position and view. The prophet and healing had come to their town. Rumors must have spread ahead that Jesus was coming to town. A desperate woman could not get even a moment with the celebrity Jesus. Mark uses a series of participles to describe the difficult situation of this woman. She was at the low end of society as a woman and ceremonially unclean. Her situation was hopeless from a human perspective since no doctors could help her. In fact, like some medical treatments today, she suffered even more from these physicians. Most doctors try multiple ways to diagnose a problem, and often in the poking and prodding, patients struggle.
The unnamed woman had heard about Jesus, and this sparked hope in her. The problem was how to get to him with so many people around him. It took a lot of determination to push her way through the people and come from behind Jesus. The sequence she followed points the way to discipleship: she heard, followed, and touched because of her hope and faith in Jesus. We can only imagine the thoughts in her mind. Mark, as the narrator, gives the reader a small glimpse into her thoughts. She shared her story later in verse 33. The disciples heard and remembered her confession and it became part of our Bible. She believed that even a touch of Jesus’ clothing would be sufficient. In most stories in the Gospels, it is Jesus who touches people.
Somehow she pushed her way through and carried out her simple plan–and it worked. She was immediately healed. Her problem was within her body. She had grown used to the feelings that went with her condition. After touching Jesus, she knew that her problem had been healed. She immediately felt different–clean, healthy, and whole. There was something greater happening to her at that moment. Her faith not only brought physical healing, but she had a person in whom to put her hope.
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