Mark 5:30, commentary and pictures

While making His way through the pressing crowd to Jairus's home, a woman diseased twelve years and unhelped by physicians touched His garment in faith and was instantly healed, and Jesus, knowing within Himself that healing power had gone out from Him, turned about and asked who had touched His clothes. He distinguished her purposeful touch of faith from the crowd's casual jostling which received nothing, for the cure came not from mere contact with His clothes but from strong faith reaching out to claim His divine help. He asked not for information, for He fully knew her, but to bring her forward to openly acknowledge her healing and faith, to receive His comfort and approval, and to teach all His followers to the close of time that faith had brought the cure. He alone is the Mighty One and source of healing power, whose touch joined her humanity to His divinity, and as He dealt with her bodily disease so He deals with every repentant soul defiled by sin who calls on Him in faith to receive pardon and healing. So it will be with everyone now who comes helpless and dependent and lays hold upon Him by living faith, simply taking God at His word, receiving virtue from His fullness and being made whole in body and soul.

Setting and Wording

Jesus was making His way through the pressing crowd to the home of Jairus when He stopped to meet need along the way, even while the anxious father feared the delay. The setting is the approach of a suffering woman through that press as He went toward Jairus's house. Her touch concentrated the faith of her life, and He knew her need and helped her exercise that faith.

She had suffered from disease for twelve years and had exhausted her resources in seeking a cure without being healed. Her treatment by physicians had not helped her and had endangered her life, leaving her poor after spending her means on doctors. When she heard of Jesus' healings she believed He would pity and heal her, and she pressed through the crowd to reach Him. Believing that touching His garment would heal her, she barely touched it and was instantly healed.

The verse belongs to the history of Jairus's daughter and the healed woman, the same history given in Matthew 9:18-26 and Luke 8:40-56. Immediately knowing within Himself that virtue or healing power had gone out from Him, He turned about in the press and asked who had touched His clothes. He stopped amid the crowd and turned to look around, drawing attention to a touch that mattered. The question seemed singular and amazing to the disciples and the crowd jostling and pressing Him on every side, and drew Peter's reply about the multitude thronging Him.

Faith and Mere Contact

Amid the press Jesus felt healing power leave Him and stopped to ask who had touched His clothes, distinguishing the woman's purposeful touch of faith from the crowd's careless jostling and accidental contact, while the multitude thronging Him on every side received no vital power or restoration. He could tell her trusting, desperate touch from casual contact to the surprise of the disciples, and He would not let such trust pass without notice but brought her forward to acknowledge her faith. The crowd pressing close about Him had only nominal faith that does not connect with Him.

The cure did not come from any power in the garment itself or in the simple outward act of touching His clothes. Her strong faith reached out for and claimed His divine help, taking hold of His divine power so that healing entered her that moment and made her whole.

That touch of faith may be silent, answering even silent prayer, and is simply taking God at His word and reaching out to connect with the Saviour in childlike trust. It does not require feelings wrought up to excitement, noisy petitions, physical exercise or display, or entire knowledge before believing. Cold doubt destroys the confidence that receives blessing, and mere nearness with only nominal faith does not bring it.

To talk of religious things in a casual way and to pray for spiritual blessings and to preach without real soul-hunger and living faith avails little and is in vain. Merely agreeing that Christ is the world's Saviour does not heal the soul. Saving faith personally receives Christ as Saviour, appropriates His merits, and joins the believer to God in covenant trust. That living, confident trust gives increasing vigor and strength to overcome and brings life to body and soul.

Reasons Jesus Asked

He asked not because He lacked knowledge, for He knew within Himself that healing power had gone out from Him and He fully knew her circumstances, distinguishing her purposeful touch of faith from the crowd's casual jostling and pressing. He stopped in the press and turned about to look around and identify her, to the amazement of the crowd pressing on every side and to the surprise of the disciples, with Peter replying about the multitude thronging Him. He would not let such trust pass without comment but brought her forward so her faith and healing would be openly acknowledged and she could tell what had happened. He did this to acknowledge her trust and to speak words of comfort, approval, and love that would be a wellspring of joy to her, that she might know He had understood her suffering. The cure came not from any power in the garment itself or in the mere act of touching His clothes, but her strong faith reached out for and claimed His divine help.

He asked in order to give a lesson for all His followers to the close of time, teaching the throng, the crowd, and His disciples that faith had brought the healing. He wanted the woman's faith and healing to be made known through her grateful confession, to encourage the afflicted and to glorify God. He wanted the throng around Him to learn that lesson, that her touch had joined her humanity to His divinity so power went out from Him and the blessing of healing was received in answer to her trust and compassionate appeal to His power to save. He sought her public acknowledgment of the blessing, since the gifts of the gospel are not to be taken secretly or kept as private possessions. A person's own experience of God's grace, when joined to a Christlike life, reveals Christ and helps lead others to salvation.

He knows by name every soul who comes to Him in faith, just as He knew it when she touched Him though no one else knew she had done so. While the crowding multitude felt none of the restoration she realized, faith had taken virtue from Him, and when she saw she was not hid she came and fell at His feet and told her story and praised Him for His healing power. That actual contact of faith brought the blessing, and that same contact brings His virtue to believers to prepare them for His service and His kingdom when He comes to gather His sheep and enter into His joy with the souls for whom He died. He noticed even her slightest touch of faith and responded to her need, illustrating His careful attention to even the smallest things and to the needs of the humblest. His divine nature combined with the human was so finely wrought that the least touch of faith brought a response, and even while teaching and healing with all the energies of body and soul taxed to the utmost He was awake to the afflicted and His ear heard every needy cry.

Christ's Power and Compassion

He is the Mighty One who restores, and He alone is the source of healing power. When the woman touched Him in faith amid the pressing crowd, He knew within Himself that healing power had gone out from Him, for power went out from Him and entered those who came to Him for help. Her touch joined her humanity to His divinity, so that humanity connected with divinity and the blessing of healing was received, and the healing came not from contact with His garment but from faith in Him.

He came to earth to bring divinity to humanity, and that divine power and blessing is needed by young and old. His healing brought not only physical relief but for many conviction of sin and healing from spiritual disease. That touch brought healing that changed her distress into joy and thanksgiving. He remains willing to heal, and He works through His servants as channels of His healing power, while the physician's hand needs His sustaining influence to bring restfulness, confidence, and skill to its work.

His divine nature combined with the human was so finely and closely wrought that the least touch of faith brought a response. Even while teaching and healing with all the energies of body and soul taxed to the utmost, His ear heard every needy cry and He was awake to the touch of the afflicted, and He did not overlook the needs of the humblest. Though weak, anyone can come to Him directly in faith, and He answers as quickly as He answered her. No human being should control another person's mind or stand between the suffering and God.

Pardon for the Soul

Just as He dealt with bodily disease, so He deals with the repentant soul defiled by sin. The healing of the diseased woman illustrates that the repentant sinner who calls on Him in faith receives pardon. That touch of faith brings forgiveness and fills the soul with gratitude, joy, and thanksgiving. The healing power that relieved bodily illness shows how faith reaches Him for healing of the soul.

Her touch in the crowded press teaches that those needing cleansing and healing from sin should look to Him in faith and receive life and blessing from Him. His healing power is present for people in their own lives and pain, and touching Him by faith brings healing. Touching His garments pictures receiving His healing touch through faith, which can revive mind and body and strengthen for service.

Touching the hem of His garments pictures looking up in faith and asking the Lord to let His blessing come. Discouraged believers should do this to receive strength and help for His work, including blessing upon schools established outside the cities.

Living Faith Today

So it will be with everyone who comes to Jesus in need and lays hold upon Him by living faith, receiving virtue from His fullness and being made whole. Faith means taking God at His word and relying on His power, expressing trust in Christ's power to heal, not stirring up intense feelings. The touch was not the casual press of the multitude crowding about Him in the streets of Judea, which has only nominal faith and does not connect with Him, but the touch of living faith from a desperate, longing soul reaching out for help no one but He could give. Christ understood the longing of her heart, as He understands the desire of every heart drawn out after Him, and He responds to it, so when she pressed through the crowd and touched Him she was healed that moment and her faith made her whole. Those who come to Christ in such faith receive from His fullness.

A woman with a disease no earthly physician could help was made whole the moment she touched the hem of His garment in the midst of a dense throng. She had seen Jesus healing the sick and hope sprang up in her heart, and she waited for her opportunity to get within His reach and put forth her finger to touch Him. Her touch joined her humanity to His divinity, and power went out from Him and the blessing of healing was received, a lesson Christ wanted the throng around Him to learn. He came to earth to bring divinity to humanity, and young and old need that divinity. Those who do not know this power must seek it, live a consistent life, and take hold of Christ by living, active faith, coming to Him just as they are, helpless and dependent as she came, asking for help with unbelief and studying His life of self-denial and self-sacrifice to become a Christian in every sense of the word.

That same living faith shown by the woman who had suffered under disease for years when she touched the hem of His garment is required now. It trusts in Christ for victory as surely as He died on Calvary's cross, refuses to gratify the evil one by telling doubts to others, and ceases to speak of trials and conflicts. It brings joy unspeakable and full of glory and the light of life to those who follow Christ. Real contact with Christ requires more than touching Him only with the tips of the fingers in a fitful way without surrender, which is how many sinners seek Him as Saviour. It requires individual surrender to God, conversion, and seeking the Lord with all the heart that He may be found, making Him Saviour to all intents and purposes by giving Him the service of the whole being and praising Him for His wonderful, matchless love to the children of men.

The poor suffering woman in her great need touched the hem of His garment with the touch of faith and felt healing, while the wondering crowd pressing close about Him received no vital power from casual contact, and Jesus immediately knowing in Himself that healing virtue had gone out from Him recognized that touch of faith and turned about in the throng to ask who touched His clothes in order to give a lesson for all His followers to the close of time distinguishing casual contact from the touch of faith, to the surprise of His disciples who pointed to the multitude thronging Him. To talk of religious things in a casual way and to pray for spiritual blessings and to preach without real soul-hunger and living faith avails little and is 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. This close connection with Christ that comes through living faith, unlike a casual touch, is the kind of faith needed to claim God's promises and receive Christ's blessing, and this living faith by which Jesus is indeed ours and His Spirit purifies and refines the heart is the great need today.