If I Touch the Hem of His Garment

(Mark 5:21-34)

Jesus had been implored by Jairus, a ruler in the synagogue, to come to his house and heal his sick daughter who was at the point of death. While making this journey an amazing event occurred which shows the power of faith and the perception of the Lord.

A great crowd was following him and he was pressed on every side. He would perhaps have been jostled, pushed and carried along by the great throng of people. But amongst this throng was a woman who had a flow of blood and had suffered much under physicians that were unable to heal or give her relief. When she heard of Jesus she said to herself, “If I touch even his garments I shall be made well.” (Verse 28)

This woman was desperate for a healing. The bible says she suffered for many years under these physicians but to no effect. But she saw and recognised in Jesus there was the power to be healed. She saw that in Jesus she could receive what no man on earth had been able to give her: release from her infirmity. This is an act of faith.

But we also see that she did not want to be seen. She wanted to hide by saying to herself, “If I only touch his garment I will be healed.” She did not want to come up to Jesus and ask him directly but she got this idea in her head that you could touch him and receive what you want. Despite her faith there is a problem in this attitude, and it was shown in the reaction of Jesus. The woman had a picture of Jesus in her mind as if he were a magic charm like a genie in a lamp…rub the lamp and get your wish. This was a wrong way to think and Jesus rectified this.

The woman came to him and touched his garments and immediately perceived that she had been healed. But although the crowd were jostling around him, Jesus also perceived that power had gone forth and turned around to the crowd saying, “who touched my garments?” The disciples said to him there were so many people pressing about him, why did he say, “Who touched me?” But Jesus persisted and the woman seeing she could not hide fell before him and told him the truth of the matter.

Jesus then said to her, “Daughter, you faith has made you well.” He showed that the power of God was not some kind of magic, but far from it. The power of God was based in faith and it was not through some trick she had been healed, but by faith in God and his power to heal.

When we look at the Lord, especially when we consider the miracles that were done in the Lord’s day as well as miracles that occur today, we too must remember these are not tricks. They are the power of God and they are based on faith. All that we receive from the Lord is based on faith and the grace of God. As the woman was freed from a lifetime of infirmity, so too we have been set free from sin and death in Christ Jesus. But we must remember we have this standing in God only through our faith in Jesus Christ.