And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
On the way to Jairus's dying daughter through a pressing crowd, a woman worn down by twelve hopeless years of disease and vain spending on physicians pressed through to barely touch the edge of his garment, and at once the flow of blood stopped and she felt in her body that she was healed. Pain and weakness gave way instantly to perfect health and strength, felt as a thrill of complete well-being through every fibre. The cure came not from any virtue in the cloth or the physical act itself but from a touch of living faith centered in him, while the wondering crowd that merely pressed close received nothing. That bodily healing shows how humanity joined to divinity receives blessing, and how the repentant soul defiled by sin is pardoned and changed from distress to joy when it calls on him in faith. The same power is still needed today by young and old who come helpless just as they are with silent, active trust, and who then openly acknowledge what was done to glorify God.
Narrative Setting
The moment belongs on the way with Jairus to his home to heal his little daughter lying at the point of death, after the return from healing the demoniacs at Gadara. The progress was slow and interrupted through a pressing crowd eager to see and begging for attention and aid, while Jesus stopped to pity the people and minister to their spiritual darkness and physical maladies despite the anxious father's fear of delay and the disciples' surprise at his readiness to help the ruler. It is the account of the suffering woman healed by touch intertwined with that of Jairus's daughter, told also in Matthew 9:18-26 and Luke 8:40-56 under the theme of the touch of faith.
The woman had suffered twelve long years from a grievous disease that made her life a burden. She had spent all her substance and means and exhausted her resources upon physicians and remedies in vain, without benefit, and grew worse and worse until hopeless. She had been pronounced incurable and given up to die, left poor and near death after treatment. Hope revived when she heard of the cures effected in healing the sick and believed pity and healing could be received if she could come into his presence.
Fearful of losing her one chance for relief amid confusion where she could not be heard nor catch more than a passing glimpse, she pressed forward through the multitude and dense throng crowding about him. She struggled through the crowd to reach him though the crowd made it difficult, and at her first opportunity when he came within her reach she came into his presence. As he passed she barely touched with her finger the hem or border or edge of his garment.
Instant Bodily Healing
In that same instant that her finger touched the border of the garment, the fountain of blood was dried up and the flow stopped at once. The bleeding that had lasted so long ceased immediately upon that touch, not gradually or after delay. In her body she felt and knew that she was healed of that plague and that the long-standing disease was gone. That inward knowledge was certain and immediate, a bodily consciousness of cure following the touch.
Pain and weakness and feebleness disappeared at once and gave way to health and strength and complete well-being. Perfect health replaced twelve weary years without health, so that long infirmity was exchanged in a moment for entire soundness. She was completely well and restored, with weakness and pain giving place to vigor. The healing was felt as an electric thrill passing through every fibre of being, with a sensation of perfect health.
Touch of Faith
The healing followed the touch of faith, in which all the faith of a lifetime was concentrated into one touch that made whole. That touch expressed all the trust placed in Jesus, and its power lay centered not in the robe but in him who wore it. The instant the border of the garment was barely touched, the disease ended and health and strength replaced weakness and pain. Unlike the crowd's casual contact, this believing touch drew healing and was immediately felt in the body.
The cure came not from any virtue in the simple act of touching the clothes nor from any healing power in the garment itself, but from strong faith reaching out and claiming divine help. It was trust in Jesus' divine power to make whole that brought recovery, with the healing power coming from Jesus rather than from the physical touch. That simple trust illustrates the same faith that brings pardon and healing to a repentant soul defiled by sin, filling it with gratitude and joy.
The wondering crowd pressed close about him yet realized no vital power from the contact, while her touch from a longing soul feeling desperate need for help no one but he could give drew healing virtue at once. Hers was real soul-hunger and living faith, not a casual touch like the thronging multitude, and Christ recognized it and made it a lesson to the close of time. Merely being near does not bring the blessing, and nominal faith that merely crowds about Jesus does not connect with him. Every needy one needs her kind of faith to go to Jesus, lay hold upon him by living faith, and receive virtue from him.
Faith of this kind does not require intense emotion, loud petitions, outward display, strong feelings, noisy petitions, physical exertion, complete knowledge, or outward excitement. It does not depend on working oneself into an emotional ecstasy, but means taking God at his word and relying on his power. Even silent trust and silent prayer that connects with the Saviour receives his blessing and can bring a real and powerful result.
The longing of the heart was understood, as every heart drawn out after him is understood and responded to. Even the slightest touch amid the crowd was noticed, though the crowd did not know what had happened. Virtue was perceived to have gone out in healing response, and healing power was drawn by faith. Divine nature combined with human nature is so finely wrought that the least touch of faith brings answer, and the needs of the humblest are not overlooked.
Spiritual Illustration
The instant drying up of the fountain of blood and the inward knowing that the long plague was gone illustrates that the same divine power answers faith with bodily healing and answers the repentant soul defiled by sin with pardon when it calls in faith. The cure came not from the physical act itself but from trust reaching out to receive divine help, so that even silent prayer that takes God at His word and connects with the Saviour receives blessing without need of intense emotion, loud petitions, or outward display. As the bodily disease was healed, so pardon and healing are granted to the repentant soul that reaches out in faith, and that touch of faith fills the soul with gratitude and joy and thanksgiving as distress is changed to joy.
The healing of a disease no earthly physician could cure, made whole in a moment when hope had sprung up from watching the healing of the sick and she reached through the dense throng to touch the hem of the garment with her finger, means that humanity connected with divinity and the blessing was received. That connection shows the purpose of coming to earth, to bring divinity to humanity.
The experience shows a close, living, personal faith that comes, looks, lays hold, trusts power to make whole, receives virtue and blessing and merits, and is joined to God. Unlike the pressing of the crowd and mere nearness, casual religion, religious talk, prayer without living faith, or mere intellectual agreement with facts, saving faith is believing trust in Christ as personal Saviour, accepting saving grace and entering a covenant relationship with God. That living, growing, confident trust gives the soul vigor and conquering strength to overcome, brings healing from sin's wounds to body and soul, and prepares for service and the kingdom.
The heeding of the afflicted woman's touch amid the crowd shows that the needs of the humblest are not overlooked and every needy cry is heard. Divine nature combined with human nature was so finely wrought that the least touch of faith was noticed and brought healing answer, and the same present help still makes whole those who reach amid life's pain and press. Nurses and physicians are thereby left to think of that example and do likewise in noticing small needs.
Faithful Response Today
Young and old still need the same divine power that dried up the fountain of blood, and must take hold of Christ by living, active faith, coming to Him just as they are, helpless and dependent. That taking hold includes asking for faith to overcome unbelief and seeking to live a consistent life. It means studying His life of self-denial and self-sacrifice in order to become Christians in every sense. Touching Him only with the tips of the fingers in a fitful way is not enough. He is Saviour and must be made so to all intents and purposes by individual surrender and conversion, sought with all the heart that He may be found, and given the service of the whole being with praise for His wonderful, matchless love to the children of men.
Trying to touch the hem expresses reaching out to Jesus in faith, looking up in faith and asking the Lord to let His blessing come. That reaching is distinguished from being healed immediately or completely, yet even the discouraged can receive help and strength in this way. Living faith of this kind is the great need today and the example believers need in Christ. Knowing that Jesus is indeed ours and that His Spirit is purifying and refining the heart, with meekness and love bringing fruit to the glory of God, is part of that faith. Prayer and preaching and asking for spiritual blessings in a casual way without the exercise of living faith avail little and are in vain, but the touch of faith opens the divine treasure-house of power and wisdom so that through instruments of clay God accomplishes the wonders of His grace.
The healed one was brought forward to acknowledge openly before the people what was done, telling her suffering, her hopeless condition, her act of faith, and her instant relief with gratitude rather than keeping the gift in secret. Her testimony of what God had done was to glorify God and reveal Christ to others, and personal praise joined with a Christlike life can help bring others to salvation. Though she felt great joy mingled with fear lest she had acted presumptuously and overstepped duty, her faith was approved and she was not condemned. He did not reproach her but gently confirmed her wholeness and sent her away comforted and at peace.
Her healing stands as an encouraging lesson that by faith the afflicted may receive healing from Christ to revive both mind and body for their work. Christ's touch brings vitality, restfulness, confidence, and power to the physician's hand. Because He does not overlook the needs of the humblest but hears every needy cry, nurses and physicians are to think of Him and do the same in noticing small needs.
On the way to Jairus's dying daughter through a pressing crowd, a woman worn down by twelve hopeless years of disease and vain spending on physicians pressed through to barely touch the edge of his garment, and at once the flow of blood stopped and she felt in her body that she was healed. Pain and weakness gave way instantly to perfect health and strength, felt as a thrill of complete well-being through every fibre. The cure came not from any virtue in the cloth or the physical act itself but from a touch of living faith centered in him, while the wondering crowd that merely pressed close received nothing. That bodily healing shows how humanity joined to divinity receives blessing, and how the repentant soul defiled by sin is pardoned and changed from distress to joy when it calls on him in faith. The same power is still needed today by young and old who come helpless just as they are with silent, active trust, and who then openly acknowledge what was done to glorify God.
Narrative Setting
The moment belongs on the way with Jairus to his home to heal his little daughter lying at the point of death, after the return from healing the demoniacs at Gadara. The progress was slow and interrupted through a pressing crowd eager to see and begging for attention and aid, while Jesus stopped to pity the people and minister to their spiritual darkness and physical maladies despite the anxious father's fear of delay and the disciples' surprise at his readiness to help the ruler. It is the account of the suffering woman healed by touch intertwined with that of Jairus's daughter, told also in Matthew 9:18-26 and Luke 8:40-56 under the theme of the touch of faith.
The woman had suffered twelve long years from a grievous disease that made her life a burden. She had spent all her substance and means and exhausted her resources upon physicians and remedies in vain, without benefit, and grew worse and worse until hopeless. She had been pronounced incurable and given up to die, left poor and near death after treatment. Hope revived when she heard of the cures effected in healing the sick and believed pity and healing could be received if she could come into his presence.
Fearful of losing her one chance for relief amid confusion where she could not be heard nor catch more than a passing glimpse, she pressed forward through the multitude and dense throng crowding about him. She struggled through the crowd to reach him though the crowd made it difficult, and at her first opportunity when he came within her reach she came into his presence. As he passed she barely touched with her finger the hem or border or edge of his garment.
Instant Bodily Healing
In that same instant that her finger touched the border of the garment, the fountain of blood was dried up and the flow stopped at once. The bleeding that had lasted so long ceased immediately upon that touch, not gradually or after delay. In her body she felt and knew that she was healed of that plague and that the long-standing disease was gone. That inward knowledge was certain and immediate, a bodily consciousness of cure following the touch.
Pain and weakness and feebleness disappeared at once and gave way to health and strength and complete well-being. Perfect health replaced twelve weary years without health, so that long infirmity was exchanged in a moment for entire soundness. She was completely well and restored, with weakness and pain giving place to vigor. The healing was felt as an electric thrill passing through every fibre of being, with a sensation of perfect health.
Touch of Faith
The healing followed the touch of faith, in which all the faith of a lifetime was concentrated into one touch that made whole. That touch expressed all the trust placed in Jesus, and its power lay centered not in the robe but in him who wore it. The instant the border of the garment was barely touched, the disease ended and health and strength replaced weakness and pain. Unlike the crowd's casual contact, this believing touch drew healing and was immediately felt in the body.
The cure came not from any virtue in the simple act of touching the clothes nor from any healing power in the garment itself, but from strong faith reaching out and claiming divine help. It was trust in Jesus' divine power to make whole that brought recovery, with the healing power coming from Jesus rather than from the physical touch. That simple trust illustrates the same faith that brings pardon and healing to a repentant soul defiled by sin, filling it with gratitude and joy.
The wondering crowd pressed close about him yet realized no vital power from the contact, while her touch from a longing soul feeling desperate need for help no one but he could give drew healing virtue at once. Hers was real soul-hunger and living faith, not a casual touch like the thronging multitude, and Christ recognized it and made it a lesson to the close of time. Merely being near does not bring the blessing, and nominal faith that merely crowds about Jesus does not connect with him. Every needy one needs her kind of faith to go to Jesus, lay hold upon him by living faith, and receive virtue from him.
Faith of this kind does not require intense emotion, loud petitions, outward display, strong feelings, noisy petitions, physical exertion, complete knowledge, or outward excitement. It does not depend on working oneself into an emotional ecstasy, but means taking God at his word and relying on his power. Even silent trust and silent prayer that connects with the Saviour receives his blessing and can bring a real and powerful result.
The longing of the heart was understood, as every heart drawn out after him is understood and responded to. Even the slightest touch amid the crowd was noticed, though the crowd did not know what had happened. Virtue was perceived to have gone out in healing response, and healing power was drawn by faith. Divine nature combined with human nature is so finely wrought that the least touch of faith brings answer, and the needs of the humblest are not overlooked.
Spiritual Illustration
The instant drying up of the fountain of blood and the inward knowing that the long plague was gone illustrates that the same divine power answers faith with bodily healing and answers the repentant soul defiled by sin with pardon when it calls in faith. The cure came not from the physical act itself but from trust reaching out to receive divine help, so that even silent prayer that takes God at His word and connects with the Saviour receives blessing without need of intense emotion, loud petitions, or outward display. As the bodily disease was healed, so pardon and healing are granted to the repentant soul that reaches out in faith, and that touch of faith fills the soul with gratitude and joy and thanksgiving as distress is changed to joy.
The healing of a disease no earthly physician could cure, made whole in a moment when hope had sprung up from watching the healing of the sick and she reached through the dense throng to touch the hem of the garment with her finger, means that humanity connected with divinity and the blessing was received. That connection shows the purpose of coming to earth, to bring divinity to humanity.
The experience shows a close, living, personal faith that comes, looks, lays hold, trusts power to make whole, receives virtue and blessing and merits, and is joined to God. Unlike the pressing of the crowd and mere nearness, casual religion, religious talk, prayer without living faith, or mere intellectual agreement with facts, saving faith is believing trust in Christ as personal Saviour, accepting saving grace and entering a covenant relationship with God. That living, growing, confident trust gives the soul vigor and conquering strength to overcome, brings healing from sin's wounds to body and soul, and prepares for service and the kingdom.
The heeding of the afflicted woman's touch amid the crowd shows that the needs of the humblest are not overlooked and every needy cry is heard. Divine nature combined with human nature was so finely wrought that the least touch of faith was noticed and brought healing answer, and the same present help still makes whole those who reach amid life's pain and press. Nurses and physicians are thereby left to think of that example and do likewise in noticing small needs.
Faithful Response Today
Young and old still need the same divine power that dried up the fountain of blood, and must take hold of Christ by living, active faith, coming to Him just as they are, helpless and dependent. That taking hold includes asking for faith to overcome unbelief and seeking to live a consistent life. It means studying His life of self-denial and self-sacrifice in order to become Christians in every sense. Touching Him only with the tips of the fingers in a fitful way is not enough. He is Saviour and must be made so to all intents and purposes by individual surrender and conversion, sought with all the heart that He may be found, and given the service of the whole being with praise for His wonderful, matchless love to the children of men.
Trying to touch the hem expresses reaching out to Jesus in faith, looking up in faith and asking the Lord to let His blessing come. That reaching is distinguished from being healed immediately or completely, yet even the discouraged can receive help and strength in this way. Living faith of this kind is the great need today and the example believers need in Christ. Knowing that Jesus is indeed ours and that His Spirit is purifying and refining the heart, with meekness and love bringing fruit to the glory of God, is part of that faith. Prayer and preaching and asking for spiritual blessings in a casual way without the exercise of living faith avail little and are in vain, but the touch of faith opens the divine treasure-house of power and wisdom so that through instruments of clay God accomplishes the wonders of His grace.
The healed one was brought forward to acknowledge openly before the people what was done, telling her suffering, her hopeless condition, her act of faith, and her instant relief with gratitude rather than keeping the gift in secret. Her testimony of what God had done was to glorify God and reveal Christ to others, and personal praise joined with a Christlike life can help bring others to salvation. Though she felt great joy mingled with fear lest she had acted presumptuously and overstepped duty, her faith was approved and she was not condemned. He did not reproach her but gently confirmed her wholeness and sent her away comforted and at peace.
Her healing stands as an encouraging lesson that by faith the afflicted may receive healing from Christ to revive both mind and body for their work. Christ's touch brings vitality, restfulness, confidence, and power to the physician's hand. Because He does not overlook the needs of the humblest but hears every needy cry, nurses and physicians are to think of Him and do the same in noticing small needs.