The fifth chapter of the gospel of Mark is a menu of miracles. There are three miracles in this chapter, each of which illustrate the authority and the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the first miracle, a man comes to Jesus bound in chains, bleeding from cuts, controlled by demonic forces. Jesus cast out these demons. He frees this man from the hounds of hell that have hunted him and haunted him, and changes him from a child of the devil to a child of God.
Then Jesus encounters a woman with a terrible disease that is sapping the very life out of her. She has a continuous flow of blood that is slowly but surely killing her. By faith, she reaches out and touches the hem of his garment and instantaneously the bleeding is stopped.
In the third miracle a little girl has died, the beat has left her heart, the breath has left her lungs; but Jesus goes to the home and puts breath back into the lungs, recharges that heart, and raises the girl from the dead.
The first miracle illustrates that Jesus has authority over demons; the second that He has authority over disease; the third that He has authority over death.
The first miracle tells us that Jesus is the Savior of men; the second tells us He is the Savior of women; the third tells us He is the Savior of children. We learn that with Jesus there should be no fear, for there is nothing He cannot do. We also learn that with Jesus there is no favor, for there is no one He will not save.
I want to focus on this second miracle. Now get the picture in your mind. Jesus is surrounded by a tremendous crowd. People are pushing and shoving just to get a glimpse of this man from Galilee. Parents are holding up their little children just to get a look at him.
Perhaps there are those like Zacchaeus who have climbed trees just to look into his face. But one woman, weak, sick, timid, and shy, that no one in the crowd even notices, presses through with a steely determination, reaches out and touches the hem of his garment, and a miracle takes place.
Now remember that miracles of healing are parables of grace. In fact, the Apostle John calls miracles "signs." A sign is something that points to something else. Miracles are signs that point to a higher truth. Someone has aptly said, "Every parable is a miracle of teaching, but every miracle is a parable of teaching." This miracle of physical healing points to a greater miracle of spiritual healing. Literally, it deals with sickness, but figuratively, it deals with salvation.
As we look at this miracle through the lens of Mark's gospel, I want us to zoom in on that little woman and see the change that took place in her life.
I. The Trouble That Cursed This Woman
This woman was misery personified. Her theme song was "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen."
a. She Was a Diseased Woman
"Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years." (v.25) This woman was suffering from a twelve-year hemorrhage that never stopped. Now can you imagine: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year for twelve years having a continuous flow of blood. Only women could imagine the weakness, the sickness, the physical drain this woman must have experienced. She was literally dying by degrees.
She had a blood disease. Lev. 17:11 tells us, "the life of the flesh is in the blood." This continual loss of blood would eventually lead to her death.
But in the Bible physical sickness always illustrates the greater sickness of spiritual sickness. Just as sickness was killing this woman, we have a disease that is killing us called sin. "For the wages of sin is death." (Rm. 6:23)
Now this woman knew she was going to die; she was getting weaker and weaker and weaker. That is exactly what sin does, it weakens you, it wears you down, it breaks down your immunity to temptation until finally it kills you. "Sin, when it is full-grown brings forth death." (Ja. 1:15)
Believe it or not, we have a similar disease. We have a blood disorder, for flowing in our veins right now is the sin nature that we inherited from our father Adam.
b. She Was a Destitute Woman
"She had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse." (v.26) She had spent all of her wealth trying to get back all of her health. She was looking for relief. She had gone from doctor to doctor to doctor; but the only thing that they had relieved her of was her money. Every day when she went to the mailbox all she got was another doctor bill. Remember, these were the days before Bluecross-Blueshield and Medicare. Her disease had totally depleted her financially.
That tells us that sin is very expensive. Did you know there is a high price to low living? Sin will cost you. It will cost you a clear conscience; it will cost you peace of mind; it will cost you a good reputation; it will cost you fellowship with God; it will cost you your marriage; it will cost you your family; it will cost you your health.
You see, sin not only has an earthly cost, it has an eternal cost. Because sin will ultimately cost you your soul and a home in heaven if you do not get saved. There is one thing the sin of man and the grace of God have in common. They are both free, but they are not cheap.
Sin will take You farther than you want to go; it will keep you longer than you want to stay; and it will cost you more than you want to pay.
Notice that this woman was not getting any better, she was getting worse. Sin never gets any better, it only gets worse. Now if this woman had waited until she got better before she came to Jesus, she would have died and missed him altogether.
I come across people so often who will say, "When I get my life together, when I get things straightened out, when I get good enough, I'm going to come to church, I'm going to get right with God and live for Jesus." Well, I've got news for you. Without Jesus things will never get any better; they will only get worse. For a lost man to say he is going to wait till he gets his life straightened out to come to Jesus, is like a sick man saying he is going to get well before he goes to the doctor.
Jesus said, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (Lk. 5:31-32)
c. She Was a Deserted Woman
Because of this woman's disease she was ostracized by society. By the very law of her own people she was divorced from her husband, and could not live in her home. She was forbidden to be with her children. She was excluded from going to the temple to worship. No one would have anything to do with her. She was a pathetic figure.
She was physically sick, financially strapped, emotionally destroyed, socially rejected, void of friendship, void of family, with no one to talk to and no one to turn to.
Sin is just like that. Do you know what sin does? Sin will insulate you from faith, and isolate you from the Father. Sin will separate you from the best friend you could ever have, the Lord Jesus Christ, and then desert you when you need a friend and don't have a friend.
As long as the prodigal son had money to spend, his apartment was filled with friends. But when he could no longer pay the rent and throw the party, his friends were nowhere to be found. Sin will pain you, drain you, strain you, and leave you holding the bag and paying the bill.
d. She Was a Desperate Woman
"When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment." (v.27) Now if this crowd had found out who she was she most likely would have been stoned to death on the spot because she was considered unclean. But she was willing to risk life and limb just to touch the hem of His garment.
You know, sometimes God has to put a man in a place of desperation before he's willing to come to Jesus. There are some of you here who will never think of your spiritual need until the bony hand of death begins to knock on your door. Some people will not come to God until the baby dies. Others will have to lose their health and be placed in a bed of sickness before they will look up to heaven. The prodigal son almost starved to death before he said, "I will arise and go to my father." The Philippian jailer almost died in an earthquake before he said, "What must I do to be saved?"
I have learned that so often man's extremity becomes God's opportunity. Did you know that the hardest person for God to save is not the unbelieving atheist, not the drunk in the gutter, not the prostitute on the street, not the out-and-out sinner; the hardest person for God to save is the so-called "good" person who does not understand his badness apart from Jesus Christ.
This woman had long ago lost her pride. She didn't care who, when, or how, she just wanted to be healed. A patient will never be cured until he admits he is sick, and a sinner will never be saved until he admits he is lost.
I am so glad that somebody told this lady about Jesus, for the reason that she came to Jesus was "she heard about Jesus." This woman touched Jesus because she was first told about Jesus. Everyone of us who are saved ought to ponder this thought: No one can come to Jesus until they first hear about Jesus. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Rom. 10:14)
II. The Touch That Cured This Woman
See how this woman bravely elbows her way through this vast throng, trembling, shaking from weakness. But where her flesh is weak her spirit is willing. She reaches out and puts the finger of faith on the hem of heaven, and she is healed.
a. She Was Promptly Healed
"Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up." (v.29a) God means business with those who mean business with Him. The very minute you mean business with God, God will mean business with you. You see, she was not gradually healed; the flow of her blood was not slowed, it was immediately stopped.
Now just as her sickness pictures sin, her healing pictures salvation. This woman was healed immediately. There is no such thing as growing into salvation. There is no such thing as progressively becoming a Christian. There is no middle ground. A man is not partly saved, and partly lost; mostly saved and slightly lost; or mostly lost and slightly saved. He is either saved or lost.
When a man is married, there are three ingredients to make that marriage possible: there is a person, a place, and a period of time. Marriage is an instantaneous event. Up until a certain moment of time you are single; but there is that instant in time when you are married to a particular person, at a particular place, in a particular period of time, and instantaneously you are no longer single, you're married.
Salvation is just like that. You may not know the exact time, or the exact place, but you should be able to point back to a place, and a period, when at a moment you met that person called the Lord Jesus Christ.
b. She Was Privately Healed
"And she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction." (v.29b) Now there were many sick people in that crowd, but only one person who was healed. There were many in that crowd who got very close to Jesus, who jostled Jesus, who brushed up against Jesus; but the only one who reached out and touched him and was healed, was this little woman.
There was a great crowd there that day. Many had come just out of curiosity. Others had come to be entertained; to see the great miracle worker put on another show. But there was one person who didn't come just to see or to hear, but to touch and to receive a blessing.
The difference between the crowd and the woman is the difference between flesh and faith. Flesh wants to see a sign, but faith wants to touch a Savior. Jesus can always distinguish between the jostle of a curious crowd and the touch of a needy soul. I cannot always tell when people mean business with the Lord Jesus, but He can. Jesus can always tell the difference between those who mean business and those people who do not.
Yes, there were many in that crowd that day who heard Jesus, saw Jesus, got a glimpse of Jesus, brushed against Jesus, but only one who touched him, and only one who was both healed and saved. What was the difference:
One ship sails east, and another west
by the self-same winds that blow;
‘Tis the set of the sails, and not the gales
that tells them the way to go.
This woman had her sails set toward faith in Jesus Christ.
Think about it. This entire crowd was close enough to reach out and touch, but because they did not reach out, they were left out. They were so close and yet so far away.
I heard about three contestants on a television quiz show. They were down to the last round. The Master of Ceremonies explained the final question: He said, "I'm going to give you a phrase with a word missing at the end. If you come up with the missing word and spell it correctly, you will win our grand prize an all expenses paid trip around the world. Are you ready? The phrase is ‘Old McDonald had a ____.' Now remember, you must not only name the missing word, you must spell it."
Well, the first contestant said, "Old McDonald had a ranch r-a-n-c-h." The studio audience moaned. The MC said, "Wrong."
The second contestant tried. "Old McDonald had a barn b-a-r-n." The studio audience groaned again.
With great anticipation and excitement from the audience, the third contestant arose, and said, "Old McDonald had a farm." The applause was deafening. After the audience calmed down, the MC said, "all right, now for that super deluxe all-expenses paid trip around the world, all you have to do is spell the magic word." Well, the man was so nervous he said, "E-I-E-I-O." He was so close, and yet so far away.
People who come to church Sunday after Sunday, but have never been born again, never been saved, remind me of that man. It is one thing to throng around Jesus, it's another thing to trust Him. It's another thing to be in a crowd that listens to Jesus, but it's another thing to be a part of that crowd that reaches out and touches Jesus.
c. She was Positively Healed
This woman was not only healed immediately, she immediately knew it. Friend, if you touch Jesus and He saves you, you will know it. She knew the moment she was healed, and you can know the moment you are saved. It is a second class Christian who is saved, but does not know it. God not only wants you to be saved, He wants you to know that you're saved. Because if you could be saved and not know it, you could lose it and not miss it.
Someone asked Mel Trotter if he was saved, and he said, "Yes, I am." They said, "Mel, how do you know you're saved?" He said, "I was there when it happened." Well, when you are saved Jesus knows it, the angels in heaven know it, and you ought to know it.
There is a tremendous joy in being saved, but there is an even greater joy in knowing that you are saved. What if this woman had been healed but never knew it? She would have lived like a sick person the rest of her life. You can be saved, but you can also be sure. You will never be satisfied with your salvation until you are sure.
III. The Truth That Changed This Woman
Now remember this story is not just about a literal physical healing. It is an illustration of a greater spiritual healing. There are two great truths that are illustrated in this magnificent miracle: there is the faith of the sinner, but there is also the grace of the Savior. If I could give you one truth to see in this miracle it is this: Abounding faith is always met by amazing grace, and the result is salvation. I want you to see what Jesus did for this woman when she reached out and touched him.
a. Jesus Acknowledged Her
"And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My clothes?' But His disciples said to Him, ‘You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?' "The moment this woman touched him Jesus knew it, because He felt power had gone out of him. Somebody had touched him in a special way. Somebody had given him "just the right touch." Now the disciples didn't realize it, but He knew it.
Like a hound on the trail of a rabbit, Jesus begins to search through the crowd looking for the guilty party. Like the rabbit who knew he would eventually be caught, the woman comes forth fearing and trembling, falls down before him and tells him the whole truth.
Now why did Jesus acknowledge this woman? Why did Jesus want this crowd to know what had taken place? After all, he could have kept quiet. It could have been their little secret. But Jesus wanted one and all to know a miracle occurred. Now was Jesus looking for attention? Did He want to do a little holy bragging? No, the reason that Jesus acknowledged her was because He wanted her to acknowledge him.
He gave her a cure; she owed him a confession. No patient who ever gets healed is ashamed to confess the doctor. You see, this woman tried to bootleg a blessing, but Jesus wouldn't let her. This same story is told in Luke, chapter 8, and we are told there that she tried to hide. But when she found she couldn't she "declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately." (Lk. 8:47)
When a person is saved, Jesus expects a public confession so that He might get the glory. When the children of Israel were instructed to slay the lamb for the Passover, they were told to put the blood on the doorpost; that is, on the front of the house, not in the closet, not on the backdoor, not under the mat, but on the doorpost where everyone could see it.
When a person gets saved, he ought to come out in the open and let everyone know it, for the redeemed of the Lord ought to say so.
Jesus did not want there to be any misunderstanding as to how this miracle took place. You see, this woman might have gotten up in a testimony meeting and told the people that the power of Christ was in the hem of his garment. She might have even started a new denomination and called them, "The Hemmites." That's why Jesus said to her, "Your faith has made you well." (v.34) He wanted her, and everyone else, to understand it was not his fringe, nor her finger, but it was faith that saved her.
b. Jesus Accepted Her
"But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.'" (vv.33-34) This is the only time Jesus ever addressed a woman with the term "daughter." Now he could have used the word woman, or the word lady, or the word madam, or even the word friend; but rather it was "daughter." You see, Jesus not only acknowledged her, he adopted her. He not only healed her, he saved her, and she was now a part of the family of God.
She had not only accepted Jesus, Jesus had accepted her. "But as many as received Him, to them He gives the right to become children of God." (Jn. 1:12) She was dirty, diseased, despised, deserted, destitute; but now she was a child of God.
c. Jesus Approved Her
Jesus bids this woman farewell by saying, "Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction." (v.34) Literally, Jesus said, "Go into peace." For twelve years she had been living in the shadows of sin, but now she could enjoy the sunshine of salvation. She had a peace that passes all understanding. Oh, she was healthy, and yes she was happy, but now she was holy.
Real peace is not found in health nor wealth. It is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can have a well body, and have a sick soul. You can be financially rich, but spiritually poor. But there is no wealth and there is no health that can compare to peace of heart, peace of soul, and peace of mind, and you can have it with just the right touch.
You may think you're just one in a crowd today, but I want to tell you that Jesus is passing by. He is waiting on you just to reach out and touch Him. Because when you reach out and touch Him, He will reach out and touch you; and you will never be the same again.
She touched on the hem of his garment
As to His side she stole;
Amid the crowd that gathered round Him
And straightway she was whole.
Oh touch the hem of his garment
And then you, too, shall be free;
His saving power, this very hour, shall
Give new life to thee.