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d) A Woman with an Issue of Blood
“A large crowd followed and pressed around him (Jesus). And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realised that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ‘You see the people crowding against you,’ his disciples answered, ‘and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ’ But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’ ” (Mark 5:24b–34)
The woman was under severe personal distress. For twelve years she had suffered from a constant loss of blood, which must have permanently weakened her. Her physicians could not help her and her finances were depleted. How many of those knowing her and aware of her problem would consider her unclean and to be avoided socially! Could this be her reason for approaching Jesus from behind, stealthily touching His garment and then fading back into the crowd? In this way, could she avoid any charge that she, being unclean, made another unclean?
Whatever her motive and however much she feared, Jesus wanted her to tell what had happened to her. Moreover, He wanted her to understand that the power of healing did not reside in the edge of His garment, but in Jesus Himself. He healed by the power of God, not by any evil power or the power of magic. When she fell at His feet and responded with all honesty, Jesus commended her faith and told her to go in peace.
“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” It was as if Jesus said to her: “Yes, I have the power to help you and to heal you. Your trust in me has conveyed this power to you. You can go now, knowing you are whole, free from your illness and all is well. Go in peace, God's peace, for you!”
Go in God's peace! This is the peace that God as Heavenly Father wants to give His children, His sons and His daughters. How wonderful to have God as a Heavenly Father, to know yourself as His son or daughter and to have His peace – not just to have peaceful feelings, but His peace! And how wonderful to greet one another with His peace!