Mark 5:33, commentary and pictures

After twelve weary years of incurable suffering she pressed through the throng to touch His garment in faith and was healed at once, and when He looked to find who had touched Him she could not stay hidden but came in fear and trembling and knelt at His feet. There before the crowd she told the whole truth of her long hopeless affliction, her act of faith, and the instant restoration wrought in her. Her healing came not from any power in the clothing or the mere outward touch, but from living faith taking hold of His divine power. That contact of faith stands apart from merely crowding near Him, for the multitude pressed Him with only casual touch and received nothing while her faith alone drew virtue from Him. He was not angered and did not reproach her, but deliberately drew her into the open to commend her trust, welcome her grateful confession, and send her away in peace with more than bodily healing.

Narrative Setting and Background

This scene belongs to the healing of Jairus' daughter, told also in Matthew 9:18-31 and Luke 8:41-55. It takes place after Jesus returned from healing the demoniacs at Gadara, on the way to the home of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue who fell at Jesus' feet pleading for his dying daughter. Progress toward the house is very slow because the crowd presses eagerly on every side to see Jesus, while the anxious father fears being too late and Jesus pities the people in their spiritual darkness and physical maladies and stops to minister to them.

The woman involved had suffered from her disease for twelve weary years. She had spent all her means on physicians and remedies without relief, and was considered incurable by earthly physicians. Her years of suffering and fruitless spending left her hopeless under human help.

Hearing of Jesus' healings revived her hope. As He went with Jairus she waited for her opportunity in the dense throng, struggled and pressed through the crowd to get within reach of the Saviour. She believed that touching His garment would make her well, and reaching out her finger she touched the hem of His garment. She was healed at once, and her touch expressed the faith by which she sought and received healing.

Fearful Open Confession

Knowing what had been done in her and realizing she had been healed, the woman saw she could not remain hidden or slip away unnoticed. Jesus had recognized the touch of faith, insisted on knowing who had touched Him, and looked around to see her, so she knew she was not hid. She therefore came forward in fear and trembling, fell down before Him, and kneeled at His feet.

She openly told Him all the truth before the crowd, telling the whole story of why she had touched Him. She told of her long and tedious suffering and hopeless condition, her act of faith in touching the border of His garment, and the instant relief, perfect health, and good work wrought in her the moment she touched Him. Her confession publicly made known her trust and why she had touched His garment and how she had been healed at once.

Her fear and trembling were mingled with gratitude, awe, honesty, and great joy, and with uncertainty whether she had done wrong. She came trembling with a grateful confession of what had happened, in awe and honesty telling Him the truth. Her narration was broken by grateful tears and by the joy of health unknown for twelve weary years.

Christ's Gracious Purpose

Trembling and fearful as she knelt to tell the whole truth about her long suffering and instant healing by touching His garment, she feared she had done wrong, yet her fear was mingled with great joy and grateful tears at health unknown for twelve weary years. He was not angered at her presumption and did not reproach or censure her for what she had done. He met her trust with comfort and commendation, with compassion and approval, gently sending her away in peace and restoring her to wholeness and perfect health.

She would have left unnoticed and remained hidden, but He insisted on knowing who had touched Him and looked around to find her, deliberately drawing her out of concealment into the open before the multitude. He brought her forward so her faith could be acknowledged publicly and her trust made known, and so He could comfort her and make clear that faith in His divine help, not any power in the clothing or the mere outward touch, had brought her healing. He wanted her faith and His compassionate approval to be known, so that she would leave with more than physical healing.

He welcomed her grateful confession that told simply why she had touched Him and what good work was wrought in her, because it publicly expressed thanks and gave glory to God. The blessing was not to be received secretly but was required to be openly acknowledged. Her personal testimony of God's faithfulness reveals Christ to others, and praise grounded in her own experience, supported by a Christlike life, can help lead others to salvation.

Living Faith That Heals

The healing did not come from the outward act of touching the garment, for there was no healing power in the clothing itself, but from faith reaching out to take hold of divine power and receiving divine help in answer to firm belief. The woman's grateful testimony after she came trembling and told the truth made this plain, and she was met with comfort and approval rather than censure because faith, not mere contact, had made her whole. Her living contact of faith, by which a needy soul connects with Christ, stands apart from merely being near Him. The multitude thronged and pressed around Him with only casual contact and received no such benefit, while her actual touch of faith alone drew virtue from Him to bring restoration and blessing.

Saving faith is more than knowing about Christ or agreeing with truth intellectually, and more than casual religious talk and prayer without living faith. It is living, confiding trust in Christ as a personal Saviour, receiving His merits for oneself, which joins the believer to God in covenant relation. That trust obtains victory as surely as He died on the cross, holds joy unspeakable and full of glory by keeping sight of Him who is mighty to save in perplexity and sorrow, and gives the soul increasing vigor, conquering trust, and power to overcome. True Christian faith is simple in operation and powerful in results, taking God at His word and reaching out to connect with the Saviour in order to receive His blessing in return. It is childlike trust that need not be wrought up to high excitement nor attended with noisy petitions or physical exercise, for Jesus does not fail to answer even silent prayer offered in faith. Those who wait for entire knowledge before believing will never be blessed, while cold doubt destroys confidence.

Even when Satan creates conflict with doubt and temptation that forces strong cries and tears involuntarily, and when guilt causes repentance with agony vented in cries and groans, the Saviour hears with pity. Jesus noticed the afflicted woman's faint touch of faith and answered it, for He does not overlook the needs of even the humblest servants. His ear hears every needy cry, He was awake and attentive to the least touch in the crowd, His divine nature combined with the human being so finely wrought that the least touch of faith brought a response, and her faith had brought her into living connection with Him. He, not any human healer, is the source of healing, a present help whose touch received in faith brings wholeness and changes distress and gloom to joy and thanksgiving. Her experience means humanity connecting with divinity to receive blessing, showing that Christ came to earth to bring divinity to humanity. Young and old still need that divinity and its power, received by taking hold of Christ with living, active faith, coming to Him just as they are, helpless and dependent, in order to live a consistent life.

Pardon Witness and Application

As He dealt with bodily infirmity, so He deals with the repentant soul that calls upon Him, and the touch of faith brings pardon that fills the soul with gratitude and joy. The woman's firm belief that He could heal her was answered by divine power granting her prayer for relief, and her coming forward trembling to tell all the truth becomes a lesson of encouragement to the soul defiled by sin. Even silent prayer of faith does not fail of His answer, and the sinner who reaches out to Him receives pardon and joy rather than censure.

The blessing was not to be received secretly but to be openly acknowledged before others. Her personal testimony of God's faithfulness reveals Christ to others, for praise grounded in one's own experience, when supported by a Christlike life, can help lead others to salvation.

He knows by name every soul who comes to Him in faith, just as He knew the woman who touched Him with the touch of faith. Though the multitude thronged Him, only her actual contact of faith drew virtue from Him, and faith took from Him restoration and blessing that no one else knew or felt. That same contact of faith still brings His virtue to believers to prepare them for His service and His kingdom when He comes in the clouds of heaven for His sheep.

Her coming to Him in fear and trembling to tell Him the truth about what had been done in her stands as the example of looking to Christ in faith and seeking His blessing.