Thursday 15th May
Mark 5:24b-34
“A large crowd followed and pressed round him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 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. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30 At once Jesus realised that power had gone out from him. He turned round in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ 31 ‘You see the people crowding against you,’ his disciples answered, ‘and yet you can ask, “Who touched me?”’ 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’” (NIVUK)
Having spent time in Leviticus this week considering what it means to be unclean, its contagious nature and its association with death and illness, we are much better placed to read this story in Mark. The compassion that flows through this narrative warms the heart. It is one of the few narratives in which we are allowed to eavesdrop on the thoughts of one of the people in the drama. Imagine who she thought Jesus was. He was to her a walking beacon of life and hope.
Her hopelessness is captured in swift strokes. Her finances and security had bled away seeking respite from this illness, her self-confidence most likely ebbed away also. Fearfully she touches Jesus clothes, not willing to touch Him personally. Staying silent when called forth only to fall at His feet and confess. The words of Jesus healed her as fully as her fearful touch. Life flowed from Jesus. He was not contaminated by her. She was restored by Him. A clearer witness to who Jesus was is difficult to find.
He is the One from whom life flows.
