Jesus Heals a Sick Woman

The Miracles of Jesus

Lent – March 1, 2024

Jesus heals a sick woman

Mark 5:24b-34

When I was about nine years old, I contracted the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), otherwise known as infectious mononucleosis. In lay terms, it’s just called mono.

Mono is highly contagious and causes symptoms of exhaustion, sore throat, and swollen glands. I actually ended up in the hospital’s infectious disease ward for two weeks until they figured out what I had. Then I was sent home and slept a lot. All in all, I was down for about a month.

This was not a fun time for a nine-year-old who liked to ride bikes and hang with his neighborhood friends. By the way, did I mention it’s also known as “The Kissing disease” because mono is most common amongst teens?

 **************************The Point***********************

Having mono was a rough month for me. Having mono was nothing compared to the pain and agony the woman in today’s devotion went through for twelve years.

“and all the people followed, crowding around him. A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years, she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Immediately, the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.

Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, 

“Who touched my robe?”

His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?'”

But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. And he said to her, 

“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

Mark 24b-34

This is yet another story of faith and healing.

Let me cover a few critical points in this passage:

1. This woman was probably caught in her menstrual cycle. I’m a male, and I can remember my wife’s discomfort when going through it each month. I can’t even imagine the pain and discomfort of going through that every day for twelve years.
2. According to Levitical law, the woman was unclean. When a woman was going through her cycle, she could not touch or be touched by anyone. If she touched someone, they, too, were considered unclean.
3. She touched Jesus’ clothes. He would be considered unclean, too.
4.  Let’s remember something. Jesus was God and man. He knew who touched Him, and He knew why.
5. When Jesus called out and said, “Who touched my robe?” it wasn’t because He didn’t know who did it. He called the woman out because He wanted people to see and understand what had happened because of her faith. When the woman came forward and acknowledged what she did, she was afraid Jesus might take back the healing. Instead, He tells her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in Peace. Your suffering is over.”
6. By acknowledging that she was healed and no longer unclean, this response also made Jesus clean in the eyes of the law.
7.  So, did her faith heal the woman? No, Jesus healed the woman because of her faith.
8. Finally, even though this woman was probably older than Jesus, He called her daughter. Daughter is an endearing term. She was a daughter of the Kingdom of God. For years, she had been shunned and looked down upon. But now, Jesus states publicly that this woman is healed, loved, and has a strong faith.

There are times in our lives when we go through tremendous physical and or emotional difficulties. Then, more than ever, you and I need to touch Jesus and ask for healing. How do we touch Him? We connect to Jesus with our words of prayer, devotion, praise, and thanksgiving.

Are you hurting? Take some time right now and touch Him.

Dear Jesus, you are The Great Physician. I believe that You still perform miracles today. I know you are always listening. Please allow me to touch you through prayer, devotion, praise, and thanksgiving as I ask for healing from my emotional and physical disorders. Amen.