If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well

 

 While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.  For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  And the woman was made well from that hour.  When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.  And the report of this went out into all that land. 

 

- Matthew 9:18–26 

 

Yesterday we read that, as Jesus passed on from healing a paralytic, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.  No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

 

  While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.  For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  And the woman was made well from that hour.  When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.  And the report of this went out into all that land.  On today's reading, my study Bible comments that authority over life and death is in the hand of God alone (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6).  As He is of one essence with the Father, Christ has this authority (John 5:21).  The healing of the woman with the flow of blood is a demonstration of Christ's power to cleanse and heal (see Matthew 8:1-4).  In the Old Testament, hemorrhage caused ceremonial defilement.  It imposed religious and social restrictions, as contact with blood was strictly prohibited (Leviticus 15:25).  This woman, having suffered so long, and accounting herself unclean, nonetheless approaches Jesus in secrecy but with great faith.  In verse 22, Jesus brings her good cheer because of her faith; He corrects her thinking -- as she could not hide her touch from Him, nor is she excluded from Him because of her illness; and He exhibits her faith to everyone, so they might imitate her. 

This woman's suffering is exemplary, and important to know.  It's an essential part of the story.  She's been suffering with a flow of blood, a hemorrhage, for twelve years.   Luke's Gospel tells us that she "had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any" (Luke 8:43).  One can only imagine what it would be to deal with an ongoing medical problem for twelve years, and still seek hope despite losing one's livelihood in the process.  But the presence of Christ is one that inspires, and in this case even the hem of His garment becomes a source of inspiration.  Her sense is that if she might just touch His hem, she might be healed, and it is so.  Again, Luke's Gospel reports the response to this connection of touch.  Jesus turns and says, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me" (Luke 8:46).  The story gives us once more a sense of how faith makes connections which enable Christ's holy power to work.  Although Jesus does not consciously know who touched Him, He nonetheless understood power going out from Himself, as if the power of God works in a way that seeks out faith and makes a connection to it.  Her desire to touch Him becomes as much of the "work" or "energy" in the story as Christ's power is.  This is significant, because it speaks to us of communion, of this divine power working to build communion upon faith, to make connection, and to create wholeness.  For this reason, Jesus praises her faith, and encourages all to be like her.  Note how, in the case of the ruler of the synagogue's daughter, Jesus is asked to come and touch her in order to heal her, to lay His hand upon her.  In order to heal the girl, He must put the ridiculing crowd outside so as to protect faith.  He gives her His touch by taking her by the hand and raising her up.  The story of the woman with the blood flow teaches us how significant faith itself is, for in that case it isn't Jesus who actively seeks to heal her first; it is her faith which seeks Him out and to which His divine power responded in order to heal.  We do not need to wait for an invitation from Christ to seek Him and to seek His healing for us in our lives, but we do need faith and humility.  For this is the price of entry into community.