Touching the Cloak of Jesus

Quick. . . Name one of Jesus’s miracles.

Do you have one?

I’ll wait a couple more seconds. . .

Ready? Great!

Did you choose the miracle were Jesus heals the woman with - um (here’s where I whisper) issues?

No? That’s not it?

Do you notice how few teachings there are about this miracle?

Mark 5: 24-35 is one of my favorite, well. . . issues. I first studied these verses a couple years ago when things were very busy at the Morris house. We started a new commercial masonry business in an economy hostile to construction. Our middle daughter graduated high school. Our oldest daughter and middle son were married within three months of each other. A month later we welcomed our second granddaughter to the world. In the middle of all this, we made a trip to St. Louis for an international tournament with my youngest son’s robotics team.

Although these were incredible, momentous events in my life I was worn thin. I felt, frankly. . . abandoned. I didn't want to make one more decision about wedding cakes, bridal showers, baby showers, new colleges, finances, robots, job proposals, or any other – you got it – issues. 

The woman in Mark 5: 24-35 also had a lot of issues. She’d been sick for twelve years and continued to get sicker. (Mark 5: 25 and 26) She was most likely lonely because she was unclean. (Leviticus 15: 19-31) The doctors she’d gone to for healing left her financially broke. (Mark 5: 26)

But then, she heard of Jesus. She must have felt hope because she said, “If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed.” (Mark 5: 28) Her hope became faith. (Hebrews 11: 1) What did she do next? Did she wait for Jesus to come to her? No. She got up and searched for Him in a huge crowd. (Mark 5: 24) When she found him, did she stand in front of Him and demand healing? No.

She believed all she had to do was touch Him. (Mark 5: 28)

So, she did.

Immediately she was healed   (Mark 5: 29) The Word tells us, “At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from Him”. (Mark 5: 30) He asked who touched Him. I can imagine His disciples rolling their eyes and putting their hands in the air. “You see people crowding against you, and yet you can ask, ‘who touched me?’” (Mark 5: 30 and 31) Jesus didn't give up, he kept looking around. So, the healed woman fell to her knees before Him, trembling, and told Him her story. (Mark 5: 33) Did Jesus rebuke her? He said, “Daughter your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” (Mark 5: 33 and 34) Doesn't that give you chill bumps?

This miracle is different. The woman didn't come before Jesus asking to be healed. He didn't touch her. She made the decision to touch Him.

I can use this woman’s example for myself today, two thousand plus years later.

First, I have hope. My hope becomes faith. Next, I choose to seek Jesus, determined to find Him. Finally, I reach out and touch Him, not physically but spiritually.

And I hear Jesus say,

“Daughter your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”