(The following account is a narrative of the event recorded in Mark 5:24-34, KJV).
People thronged about Jesus as He walked down the dusty road. The disciples surrounded Him and tried to create a barrier from the crowd that pressed into them closer and closer. The sound of laughter could be heard as children scampered about, running between the people. The voices of the men and women conversing and discussing the things they had seen blended into a dull roar. A lame man, unable to keep up, shuffled along behind the crowd. A mother, holding a fevered child, came rushing down the road trying to reach the Master.
In the sea of people, a woman slowly but purposefully worked her way through the crowd toward Jesus. The veiled woman was gaunt and pale, her hollowed eyes following Jesus as she weakly pushed her way toward the center of the multitude. This woman was very sick and had been bleeding for twelve long years. She had suffered much under the care of many physicians and specialists but to no avail. She had spent everything that she had seeking a cure and yet she grew worse, for no man could heal her.
One day she heard about a man called Jesus. She heard of how He went about from village to village healing all manner of sickness and disease. She heard of how He cast out devils, made the lame to walk and the blind to see. “Oh, surely,” she thought, “Jesus, this teacher and man of God, can heal me.”
With hope and expectation, she sought out Jesus. Now that she had found Him, He was busy and surrounded by people. “If I can just touch the hem of His garment, I believe I will be healed.” With this faith, she pressed through the crowd. When she was finally close, she reached around a disciple and her hand touched Christ’s robe. Her body was flooded with warmth and immediately her body was healed and invigorated with strength and vitality.
As the woman stood in glorious amazement and thanksgiving, Jesus stopped and turned around asking, “Who touched me?” The disciples answered, “Lord, you see all the people that are brushing up against you, and you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” Jesus continued looking around, for He had felt healing power flow from His body.
Now trembling, the woman fell at the feet of Jesus and told Him of her sickness and of how she had been healed instantly. With love and compassion, Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, for your suffering is over.”
How wonderful and how marvelous are the ways of Jesus Christ. While on earth, Jesus worked miracle after miracle when people put their faith and trust in Him. People who came in contact with the Messiah were never the same again. Jesus ministered to not only the spiritual being but also to the emotional and physical needs of mankind. Jesus did for that woman what learned men were incapable of doing for her—He divinely healed her body and miraculously cured her. Jesus was truly the Great Physician then and thank God, He is still the Great Physician today.
There is still healing power and virtue in Jesus Christ. Jesus continues to minister to those who come in faith, sick and broken. Jesus is in the business of saving the soul that is bound with sin, but He is also interested in ministering to people experiencing emotional pain and physical suffering. Jesus is not a substitute for doctors and psychiatrists. He is the true and mighty God who is able to do exceeding and abundantly above and beyond what man can accomplish. Nothing is impossible with God. When hope is gone and there are no answers, the light and grace of divine healing from Jesus can penetrate the darkness and miraculously change the natural course of emotional and physical sickness.
The woman that was healed wasted so much time, energy, and money on seeking a cure for her illness. We have the privilege to know of Jesus and we need not wait or linger. We can bring our problems and needs to Him at any time and He is waiting with love to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
