Let us take a look at the incident in Luke 8:43-44 of a woman healed from what it calls "an issue of blood." The whole point is that Jesus took no action whatever. She got near to Him, touched no more than a finger on the edge of His clothing and instantly felt restored. She had found the secret. Power and healing pervade His presence. To be healed needs no special techniques or spiritual gymnastics. That is seen in Mark 6:56: "They laid the sick in the streets that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment and many as touched him were made perfectly whole." None of them were religious athlete. They just got near to Him.
The healing of this woman does have one very touching feature. She was not only sick, but also an outcast. Her hemorrhage made her unclean and nobody wanted anything to do with her because she could make him or her unclean also. She was a pariah. Leviticus 15 states, "if a woman has an issue, whomever touches her shall be unclean." When she touched Jesus’ clothes, He would be unclean, but she thought nobody would know. However, Jesus instantly did know. He felt healing power flow from Him and asked, "Who touched me?" The little woman was startled and felt terrible. She had not reckoned on that. If He knew she had touched Him, He would know He was defiled. So she hid in the crowd. But, Jesus kept on asking who touched Him. In the end she had to come forward, trembling and afraid as the Gospels say, and admit the truth about her sickness besides what she had done.
Jesus knew people wouldn’t have anything to do with her. She looked so bloodless, pale, and weak. All her money had gone to doctors so she could not afford a proper diet for her anemic condition. When she stood shaking in front of Him and He heard her story, there was no anger, or reproof. He blessed her; "Your faith has made you whole. Go in peace!" If she defiled Him, He cleansed her. That’s Jesus! Always! He takes our uncleanness and gives us His purity. "God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
A Roman scholar, Pliny the Elder, living at the time of Christ, recorded what people said about women with a hemorrhage. They were considered a threat. Their condition could turn new wine sour, cause fruit to fall from the trees, hives of bees to die, dogs to get rabies, and other evils. If a woman like this woman even glanced at a baby, it would be poisoned. The poor woman who touched Jesus knew all this. We can well imagine how bad she would feel that she had touched Christ’s clothes.
When Jesus said to her, "Your faith has made you whole. Go in peace!" Jesus revolutionized every idea of God there was. To Jewish people, Yahweh was an awful transcendent Being. He charged even the angels with folly and the heavens were not clean in His sight. He could not be touched or approached except with the greatest care. Even priests had to observe scrupulous conditions of ritual perfection. Then Jesus came, and the power to heal simply flowed from Him, even to the untouchables.
The healing of this woman does have one very touching feature. She was not only sick, but also an outcast. Her hemorrhage made her unclean and nobody wanted anything to do with her because she could make him or her unclean also. She was a pariah. Leviticus 15 states, "if a woman has an issue, whomever touches her shall be unclean." When she touched Jesus’ clothes, He would be unclean, but she thought nobody would know. However, Jesus instantly did know. He felt healing power flow from Him and asked, "Who touched me?" The little woman was startled and felt terrible. She had not reckoned on that. If He knew she had touched Him, He would know He was defiled. So she hid in the crowd. But, Jesus kept on asking who touched Him. In the end she had to come forward, trembling and afraid as the Gospels say, and admit the truth about her sickness besides what she had done.
Jesus knew people wouldn’t have anything to do with her. She looked so bloodless, pale, and weak. All her money had gone to doctors so she could not afford a proper diet for her anemic condition. When she stood shaking in front of Him and He heard her story, there was no anger, or reproof. He blessed her; "Your faith has made you whole. Go in peace!" If she defiled Him, He cleansed her. That’s Jesus! Always! He takes our uncleanness and gives us His purity. "God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
A Roman scholar, Pliny the Elder, living at the time of Christ, recorded what people said about women with a hemorrhage. They were considered a threat. Their condition could turn new wine sour, cause fruit to fall from the trees, hives of bees to die, dogs to get rabies, and other evils. If a woman like this woman even glanced at a baby, it would be poisoned. The poor woman who touched Jesus knew all this. We can well imagine how bad she would feel that she had touched Christ’s clothes.
When Jesus said to her, "Your faith has made you whole. Go in peace!" Jesus revolutionized every idea of God there was. To Jewish people, Yahweh was an awful transcendent Being. He charged even the angels with folly and the heavens were not clean in His sight. He could not be touched or approached except with the greatest care. Even priests had to observe scrupulous conditions of ritual perfection. Then Jesus came, and the power to heal simply flowed from Him, even to the untouchables.
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