Mark 5:24b-29 (NIV): A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
As Jesus left to go with Jairus, the crowd followed. Here was an opportunity to see a great miracle, and nobody wanted to miss it.
But in that crowd was a woman whose agenda was different: she had come to see Jesus in hopes of being healed. But as she stood there in the crowd, saw Him heal others, and listened to Him teach, she felt ashamed. The issue of blood which had plagued her for 12 long years had made her ceremonially unclean for that whole time. And not only that, it made everything and everyone she touched unclean, too. (Leviticus 15:25-27) How could she step forward and ask for healing, when her confession of what was wrong would instantly tell everyone who had even casually bumped her in the crowd that they were now unclean? That would be too shameful to even consider!
But as Jesus and Jairus moved through the milling crowd and passed near the woman, she had a bold idea: all she had to do was to touch the edge of Jesus’ cloak! She knew that God’s power flowed through Jesus. She believed that this power could heal her if only she could make that momentary contact. So she pushed through the mass of people as they moved forward, gaining on Jesus inch by inch. Finally she was close enough. She reached out a tentative hand, and just brushed the edge of His cloak.
It was something like touching another person after shuffling your feet on carpet. There was a noticeable jolt as power jumped from Jesus into the woman’s body. She stopped right there in the middle of that jostling crowd as she felt the power course through her whole body. And, in that moment, she knew without a doubt that it had worked; she had been healed!
This woman clearly demonstrated what real faith looks like. Faith is not the ability to work up a strong belief in someone or something. Genuine faith is simply believing that God can do for us all that He has promised, all that He has done for others, and then ACTING on that belief. If the woman had simply believed, even believed strongly, that Jesus could heal her, and then walked away when Jesus left with Jairus, she would have remained broken and unclean. But her faith in Jesus’ ability to heal her, just like He had healed the others in the crowd, moved her to action. She pushed through the crowd, her focus squarely on Jesus, the object of her faith. And then she reached out and dared to touch Him, even if it was only the edge of His cloak. It was that pursuit, that effort, that touch, that transformed simple belief into life-changing faith.
Father, the action part is so essential. I can believe that You can save the souls of my family members, I can even pray for them. But if I am unwilling to pursue them, to speak very clearly and specifically to them about You, my belief will always stop one step short of true faith. I can believe that You are able to heal someone, but when You direct me to deliver Your healing touch to them personally, or to speak the words, “Jesus Christ heals you” (Acts 9:33-34), if my doubt or timidity holds me back from bold and complete obedience, my belief will not work into true faith. Thank You for the example of this woman. Thank You for this challenge to obey, to boldly move from mere belief into the dynamic obedience of miracle-enabling faith. Amen.