Luke 8:40–48
40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored Him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
As Jesus went, the people pressed around Him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before Him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
As Jesus began to walk with Jairus toward his house, hundreds, if not thousands of people began to press in on Him, many of them no doubt hoping for their own cure, many others listening to His every word, and still others attracted by all the commotion.
The streets in those days were very narrow, so the scene must have been chaotic and confusing with Jairus on one side of Jesus tugging at His sleeve, saying, “Hurry, Lord, my daughter is dying,” the disciples forming a moving wave like bodyguards for a celebrity, and the crowd of people pushing, pulling, shouting, stretching out their arms to touch Him as He passed by. Meanwhile, totally unnoticed, a frail, stooped, sickly woman pushes her way through the crowd.
In Mark’s version he wrote in 5:26, that 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.” So, we can only imagine how desperate she was. But living with such an ailment was only the beginning of her misery. We need to remember the Jewish customs of the time. Leviticus 15 stipulated that she was unclean and defiled, so this poor woman had become an outcast in her own community.
She had been living in a personal nightmare for 12 years. She had endured incurable illness, social isolation, constant pain, financial poverty, and personal humiliation. It is hard to imagine a more pitiful situation. One writer said that she had been among the living dead for twelve long years. And now, Jesus comes to her village.
His reputation as a miracle worker had clearly preceded Him. This is why there was such a large crowd, plus Jairus of course, to meet Him. Even this woman, a social outcast, had heard about Jesus, and so she somehow managed to force her way through the crowd to get to Jesus, believing that if she could just touch His clothing, she would be healed.
She was embarrassed and ashamed of her condition, so she didn’t dare speak to Him. After twelve years of public humiliation, she couldn’t risk exposure and more taunts of the crowd. She planned to simply touch Him, hopefully receive her healing, and then slip away unnoticed. After so many years, she was used to coping with life that way.
And so she reaches out and touches the edge of Jesus’ cloak, and incredibly, the unthinkable happened. Her healing was instantaneous, and it was complete.
Jesus was going the other direction, with Jairus frantically tugging at Him and talking and crying all at the same time. The disciples were trying their best at crowd control, but there was just chaos. No-one saw this woman suddenly appear, and somehow make her way through the crowd to Jesus. No-one noticed as she elbowed her way to the centre, no-one paid any attention as she reached out her hand, no-one spoke to her and she spoke to no-one.
What a thrill it must’ve been for her to feel instantaneous physical healing, her strength returning to her immediately. All of her pain and misery disappeared in the blink of an eye.
She probably had a huge smile on her face – her first smile for twelve years, as she tried to slip back into the crowd, but suddenly Jesus stopped, looked at the crowd and said, “Who touched me?” The disciples thought this was an absurd question to ask. Hundreds of people were milling around and He wants to know who touched Him? Everybody was touching Him. So many people were crowding around Jesus it could have been anyone. Besides, what difference does it make? A touch is a touch is a touch.
But that’s not true. In the gospels there are three kinds of touches.
First, there is the touch of hostility. That’s the touch of the religious leaders and Roman soldiers when they beat and tortured Jesus before and during His crucifixion.
Second, there is the touch of curiosity. That’s the touch of the crowd milling around. The autograph hunters and hangers-on who just want to be seen with Him. I wonder how many selfies would have been taken with Jesus that day had the technology existed then? So many people just want to be part of the in-crowd.
And then there is the touch of faith. That’s the touch of this woman. If the disciples couldn’t tell the difference, Jesus certainly could. He knew that someone had touched Him in faith. He felt the faith in the passing brush of her fingers on His cloak.
Of course, He didn’t ask the question for His own benefit. He had known for all of eternity what was going to happen, and who would reach out and touch Him that day. He asked not for His sake, but for her sake and for the sake of the crowd.
He asked for her sake so that He could raise and strengthen the level of her faith. If she went away without a further word, she might actually believe there was some magic power in His clothing, and she needed to be assured that it was her faith in Him that made the difference. As Christians, our faith is in the person and saving grace of Jesus Christ alone, and not in religious symbols and trinkets. Jesus also wanted her to know that her healing would be permanent. And He wanted to establish a personal relationship with her. For all those things to happen, she needed to identify herself to Jesus and to the crowd.
He also asked, “Who touched me?” for the sake of the crowd. Jairus needed to see what Jesus could do, because by the time they reached his house, his daughter was no longer ill, but had died.
The people needed to see His power too, but even more importantly, they needed to know that Jesus wasn’t ashamed to be touched by the untouchable.
According to the law, her touch would make Jesus unclean. But because He is God, His power of healing overcame her uncleanness.
This is such an important point for us to see. Jesus was not ashamed to be touched by the untouchable, and He was not embarrassed to be publicly identified with the outcasts.
In fact, He would have been delighted that she had the courage to reach out to Him and touch Him.
Our sin has made us outcasts. Because of the stain of sin, we have been driven away from God and have no way of getting back to the God who created us, except through Jesus. Don’t ever think that God will not accept you when you reach out to Him through Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said in Luke 15:10, “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
You will never be so far away from God that His grace cannot reach and save you. With God there are no untouchable people. In Jesus’ eyes, everyone is touchable.
Verse 47 is important in our story today. “When the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before Him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed.”
When Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” she came trembling and fell at Jesus’ feet. Then she publicly declared what Jesus had done for her and how she had been instantly healed.
So many Christians are reluctant to share the truth of God with non-believers. If this is your struggle, just do what this woman did: Just tell people what Jesus has done for you. You don’t need to become some deep-thinking theological boffin.
And so Jesus looked at the woman and says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” The word He used for daughter in the original Greek is unusual. It’s the only time the gospels record Jesus using this particular word, and it means more than a female child. Strong’s Greek Lexicon describes it as a “daughter of God, acceptable to God, rejoicing in God’s peculiar care and protection.”
Then He said, “Go in peace,” or quite literally, “Go into peace,” meaning “Go from this place and walk in good health. You are healed physically and spiritually.”
This story gives us a wonderful picture of the character and nature of God.
As He walked down a crowded street, hundreds of hands reached out to Him. Yet He felt a weak hand of faith. He felt it. He felt her touch, He stopped, He turned, and He spoke to her. He was not offended or angry with her. Nor was He too busy or too tired to bother with her, and He spoke to her as if she were the only person in the crowd. God has not left us to our own devices. He didn’t set the world in motion and leave us to figure it out for ourselves. Even when we rejected Him, He did not leave us. He came Himself to redeem us. God is intimately involved in your life, and He cares for you much more than you or I will ever know or understand.
Do you ever feel that your problems keep you from coming to God? Do you ever feel so dirty and unclean that you think Jesus would not have anything to do with you? Jesus is not surprised at your sins. He knows them all. And He died for those things. This is why He invites you to reach out to Him.
He will not turn you away.
All it took for this woman was to touch Jesus. She didn’t promise to do better. She didn’t promise to do something in return. She didn’t need to strike a deal with God. All she had to do was in her misery, to reach out a trembling hand and in an instant, she was healed.
Jesus did it for her, and He will do the same for you.
40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored Him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
As Jesus went, the people pressed around Him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before Him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
As Jesus began to walk with Jairus toward his house, hundreds, if not thousands of people began to press in on Him, many of them no doubt hoping for their own cure, many others listening to His every word, and still others attracted by all the commotion.
The streets in those days were very narrow, so the scene must have been chaotic and confusing with Jairus on one side of Jesus tugging at His sleeve, saying, “Hurry, Lord, my daughter is dying,” the disciples forming a moving wave like bodyguards for a celebrity, and the crowd of people pushing, pulling, shouting, stretching out their arms to touch Him as He passed by. Meanwhile, totally unnoticed, a frail, stooped, sickly woman pushes her way through the crowd.
In Mark’s version he wrote in 5:26, that 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.” So, we can only imagine how desperate she was. But living with such an ailment was only the beginning of her misery. We need to remember the Jewish customs of the time. Leviticus 15 stipulated that she was unclean and defiled, so this poor woman had become an outcast in her own community.
She had been living in a personal nightmare for 12 years. She had endured incurable illness, social isolation, constant pain, financial poverty, and personal humiliation. It is hard to imagine a more pitiful situation. One writer said that she had been among the living dead for twelve long years. And now, Jesus comes to her village.
His reputation as a miracle worker had clearly preceded Him. This is why there was such a large crowd, plus Jairus of course, to meet Him. Even this woman, a social outcast, had heard about Jesus, and so she somehow managed to force her way through the crowd to get to Jesus, believing that if she could just touch His clothing, she would be healed.
She was embarrassed and ashamed of her condition, so she didn’t dare speak to Him. After twelve years of public humiliation, she couldn’t risk exposure and more taunts of the crowd. She planned to simply touch Him, hopefully receive her healing, and then slip away unnoticed. After so many years, she was used to coping with life that way.
And so she reaches out and touches the edge of Jesus’ cloak, and incredibly, the unthinkable happened. Her healing was instantaneous, and it was complete.
Jesus was going the other direction, with Jairus frantically tugging at Him and talking and crying all at the same time. The disciples were trying their best at crowd control, but there was just chaos. No-one saw this woman suddenly appear, and somehow make her way through the crowd to Jesus. No-one noticed as she elbowed her way to the centre, no-one paid any attention as she reached out her hand, no-one spoke to her and she spoke to no-one.
What a thrill it must’ve been for her to feel instantaneous physical healing, her strength returning to her immediately. All of her pain and misery disappeared in the blink of an eye.
She probably had a huge smile on her face – her first smile for twelve years, as she tried to slip back into the crowd, but suddenly Jesus stopped, looked at the crowd and said, “Who touched me?” The disciples thought this was an absurd question to ask. Hundreds of people were milling around and He wants to know who touched Him? Everybody was touching Him. So many people were crowding around Jesus it could have been anyone. Besides, what difference does it make? A touch is a touch is a touch.
But that’s not true. In the gospels there are three kinds of touches.
First, there is the touch of hostility. That’s the touch of the religious leaders and Roman soldiers when they beat and tortured Jesus before and during His crucifixion.
Second, there is the touch of curiosity. That’s the touch of the crowd milling around. The autograph hunters and hangers-on who just want to be seen with Him. I wonder how many selfies would have been taken with Jesus that day had the technology existed then? So many people just want to be part of the in-crowd.
And then there is the touch of faith. That’s the touch of this woman. If the disciples couldn’t tell the difference, Jesus certainly could. He knew that someone had touched Him in faith. He felt the faith in the passing brush of her fingers on His cloak.
Of course, He didn’t ask the question for His own benefit. He had known for all of eternity what was going to happen, and who would reach out and touch Him that day. He asked not for His sake, but for her sake and for the sake of the crowd.
He asked for her sake so that He could raise and strengthen the level of her faith. If she went away without a further word, she might actually believe there was some magic power in His clothing, and she needed to be assured that it was her faith in Him that made the difference. As Christians, our faith is in the person and saving grace of Jesus Christ alone, and not in religious symbols and trinkets. Jesus also wanted her to know that her healing would be permanent. And He wanted to establish a personal relationship with her. For all those things to happen, she needed to identify herself to Jesus and to the crowd.
He also asked, “Who touched me?” for the sake of the crowd. Jairus needed to see what Jesus could do, because by the time they reached his house, his daughter was no longer ill, but had died.
The people needed to see His power too, but even more importantly, they needed to know that Jesus wasn’t ashamed to be touched by the untouchable.
According to the law, her touch would make Jesus unclean. But because He is God, His power of healing overcame her uncleanness.
This is such an important point for us to see. Jesus was not ashamed to be touched by the untouchable, and He was not embarrassed to be publicly identified with the outcasts.
In fact, He would have been delighted that she had the courage to reach out to Him and touch Him.
Our sin has made us outcasts. Because of the stain of sin, we have been driven away from God and have no way of getting back to the God who created us, except through Jesus. Don’t ever think that God will not accept you when you reach out to Him through Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said in Luke 15:10, “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
You will never be so far away from God that His grace cannot reach and save you. With God there are no untouchable people. In Jesus’ eyes, everyone is touchable.
Verse 47 is important in our story today. “When the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before Him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed.”
When Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” she came trembling and fell at Jesus’ feet. Then she publicly declared what Jesus had done for her and how she had been instantly healed.
So many Christians are reluctant to share the truth of God with non-believers. If this is your struggle, just do what this woman did: Just tell people what Jesus has done for you. You don’t need to become some deep-thinking theological boffin.
And so Jesus looked at the woman and says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” The word He used for daughter in the original Greek is unusual. It’s the only time the gospels record Jesus using this particular word, and it means more than a female child. Strong’s Greek Lexicon describes it as a “daughter of God, acceptable to God, rejoicing in God’s peculiar care and protection.”
Then He said, “Go in peace,” or quite literally, “Go into peace,” meaning “Go from this place and walk in good health. You are healed physically and spiritually.”
This story gives us a wonderful picture of the character and nature of God.
As He walked down a crowded street, hundreds of hands reached out to Him. Yet He felt a weak hand of faith. He felt it. He felt her touch, He stopped, He turned, and He spoke to her. He was not offended or angry with her. Nor was He too busy or too tired to bother with her, and He spoke to her as if she were the only person in the crowd. God has not left us to our own devices. He didn’t set the world in motion and leave us to figure it out for ourselves. Even when we rejected Him, He did not leave us. He came Himself to redeem us. God is intimately involved in your life, and He cares for you much more than you or I will ever know or understand.
Do you ever feel that your problems keep you from coming to God? Do you ever feel so dirty and unclean that you think Jesus would not have anything to do with you? Jesus is not surprised at your sins. He knows them all. And He died for those things. This is why He invites you to reach out to Him.
He will not turn you away.
All it took for this woman was to touch Jesus. She didn’t promise to do better. She didn’t promise to do something in return. She didn’t need to strike a deal with God. All she had to do was in her misery, to reach out a trembling hand and in an instant, she was healed.
Jesus did it for her, and He will do the same for you.