God Friended Me - 5 Day PlanSample

The Woman Healed of Bleeding: Fighting for God’s Touch

Sometimes we so ache for God’s presence in our lives that a kind of desperation overtakes us. We know that what ails us – spiritually, emotionally or physically – is too great to handle on our own. We need divine intervention to be made whole, and we’re willing to fight beyond our comfort zone to get it. 

That was certainly of the case of one woman (never named), described in the Gospels as “subject to bleeding.” Scripture doesn’t indicate whether she is a follower of Jesus, or just one of the thousands of bystanders who had heard of His miraculous healings as He and His disciples traversed Jerusalem. 

But when she sees Him passing through the throngs, while others cry out to Him to heal them or their loved ones, she says nothing. That’s because she had told herself earlier -- no doubt trying to build up her courage -- “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well” (Mark 5:28). And so she did. Imagine the struggle she must have endured pushing her way through the crush of people trying to get to Jesus. 

Two things happened the moment she laid her hand on his cloak: the bleeding that had plagued her for 12 years ceased, and Jesus stopped walking to find out had touched Him -- because He felt power leave Him.

The woman could have easily tried to disappear into a crowd so massive and chaotic the disciples basically laugh at Jesus when He asks who touched Him. She already felt unworthy to speak to Jesus, yet she “came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth” (Mark 5:33). What Jesus said to her likely healed her soul as much as her touching His cloak healed her body: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace” (Mark 5:34).

We must remember her example: our relentless, faith-fueled efforts to befriend Jesus are ALWAYS rewarded.