1. She Was One Among Many by Alexander Moody Stuart
Mark 5:25-34. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched His garment. For she said, If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole. . . . (See also Matthew 9:20-22, Luke 8:43-48.)
On the way to Jairus’ house, where Jesus was to raise the dead girl to life, an unusual interruption occurred. This we have already noticed, in so far as it tried the anxious father’s spirit by his child’s death during the delay; and we have now to take up the case of the sufferer whose urgency was the cause of the delay.
But first of all, it is to be observed that the interruption itself was of a most remarkable character; there is nothing similar to it in the New Testament. Jesus, though hindered, was not stopped by the crowd, nor by an importunate petitioner that would not be denied, but simply by the change that passed on His own spirit. Virtue went out of Him. He undertook to carry out a great work which He was going to perform, and there was a pressing throng around him; but He instantly marked what had occurred within Himself and would not proceed till it was accounted for – although He possessed the Spirit without measure, and He did not lose what another gained.
Jesus has thus left us an example of watchfulness over our own spirits from morning till night; of possessing our souls in patience, even in the midst of work and hurry. This watchfulness throughout the day saves the hard labour of recovering what we lose by forgetfulness. It is recorded of a holy man in former times, who was greatly prospered in his earthly calling, that if his spirit departed from God, in the course of the day, he immediately went to his place of prayer till his soul was restored. Such a plan would seem most likely to break the business of life in pieces but, in a soul so watchful, the wanderings would be, for the most part, both few and brief.
Jesus, in the heart of pressing business, marked the sinless change in His own spirit and allowed Himself to be interrupted by it. We cannot indeed be always expressly looking to Christ; in doing with our might what our hand finds to do, such an exercise is often impossible. But when occupied with reading or working at night, we do not look at the candle but at the work before us; yet if the light becomes dim, we note the difference as quickly as if we were watching it particularly. Let us strive to walk under the light of God’s countenance all the day so that, if a cloud passes between the Light of Life and our souls, it may be instantly perceived and its removal diligently sought.
In this miraculous cure, (1) the woman touching Jesus was one among many pressing on Jesus, (2) her case was the worst in all the crowd, and (3) she was healed immediately.
1. The woman touching Jesus was one among many pressing on Jesus.
There was power and nearness enough for all the crowd, yet only one touched Christ for healing.
There was power enough in Christ to heal every one of them, ample virtue to go forth for the salvation of them all. A single sufferer came to Him that day and was healed, but a whole crowd of sick people with diverse diseases had come one Sabbath evening and all were healed. The one was healed, because the one came, and many were healed when many came. A hundred were as welcome to Jesus as one, and the healing of a hundred was as easy with Him and as certain as the healing of one. He in no wise cast anyone out; He cast no one out for any evil in the applicant, and He cast no one out because the applicants are too many. If all the world from east and west and north and south had come, not one would have been cast out; for there was virtue enough in Jesus for all.
Further, there was nearness enough to Christ to draw the virtue out of Him, if they had desired it. But they thronged Him and pressed Him, yet they did not touch Him – not with any sense of want, with any urgent desire, any object to be gained, or any faith to find it. “Who touched Me?” Jesus asked; and all denied. All the saints denied touching, and all the sinners. Peter denied, James and John denied, and all the disciples denied. They were conscious of no healing in themselves, of no virtue entering into them from Jesus. They were conscious of no touching on their part for the sake of health; of no hand stretched out by them in that moment for any salvation. One only did not deny, yet neither does she confess, but withdrew. She was farthest off; she had come nearest and obtained life; and now she was again hidden in the crowd. But she has taken Christ with her, and health and salvation along with Christ.
How similar is the case of many an assembly in the house of God. Jesus is in the midst of it according to His promise – nearer to each of them than each is to his neighbour; in the midst of all and thronged by the people. Yet how true it may be that not one touches Him, out of the many crowding around Him. Health is available for all, and none need go unsaved; yet most must deny that any virtue enters into them.
In every meeting in the name of Jesus, a vast amount of sickness and of death is gathered together; there are many lepers, many blind, many lame, many dead in trespasses and sins. The assembly may be little else than a hospital of souls that are sick, a graveyard of souls that are dead. Yet there is more health in the house than disease, more life than death, infinitely more; there is health enough to cure all the sickness, life to quicken all the death. Christ is in the midst, full of grace and truth – Christ in the midst, the Resurrection and the Life. There is a fountain of life and health in Him, seeking an outlet; and if the fountain is sealed up, it is only because no one will drink the living waters. He is pressed with the overflowing abundance of life that is pent up within Him, because no heart is open to receive it, no empty vessel brought to be filled.
This poor woman touched – touched not Himself, but the hem of His garment. And Christ was so full of life that she was filled with life in a moment. Through that narrow and distant outlet, that slightest touch of the outer hem of His clothing, the full flood of life entered body and soul at once. It pervaded her whole being with the lively consciousness of health, filled the body from head to foot with vigour, filled the soul with salvation, cleansed all the conscience, renewed all the heart. “If I may but touch His clothes, I shall be whole”: Jesus Christ is the same to me as He was to her; “the same yesterday, today, and for ever”; the same in the midst of us now as in the midst of them of old; as near as He is full of virtue for all that touch Him.
He is nearer even than many often are in the house of God, yet without touching Jesus. At the Lord’s table, how near you have often been – seeing, handling, tasting – yet not by faith touching Jesus. The bread is eaten, but Christ is by unbelief shut out from it and never touched; the wine is drunk, yet unbelief refuses Christ and does not touch him. At such a table, how many are thronging and pressing on the Saviour; yet they are like many in that Galilean crowd, with their backs toward Him and no hand of faith stretched forth. The proof of having touched Christ is virtue issuing out of Him into your soul; and if no healing power has penetrated your heart, you may have thronged and pressed Him, but the hand of faith has never touched the Healer.
But some sadly go wrong in this matter and reverse the order of the gospel, to their own loss and sorrow. Because the virtue from Christ entering the soul is the proof of health given, they conceive that it is likewise the warrant for touching Christ to obtain health, and they will not draw nigh to touch, till they have first been healed. But it is the sick that need the Physician and that are invited to him for saving health. The warrant for coming to Jesus is His command, “Come unto Me”; and the souls warranted to come are such as He was sent to redeem, when He came into the world to save sinners, and the chief of sinners.
^1 The first part of a chapter taken, with editing, from Capernaum by Moody Stuart (1809-98), who was a Free Church minister in Edinburgh.