Luke 8:40-48 :
It happened, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. Behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’ feet, and begged him to come into his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes pressed against him. A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, and could not be healed by any, came behind him, and touched the fringe of his cloak, and immediately the flow of her blood stopped. Jesus said, “Who touched me?”
When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes press and jostle you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”
But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me, for I perceived that power has gone out of me.” When the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. He said to her, “Daughter, cheer up. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
It is interesting to read how busy Jesus was and the trouble He regularly faced. If you remember, He slept through a storm on the way across the lake and then, on the other side, dealt with a legion of demons, was asked to leave and evidently went back across the lake only to get “jostled” by yet another crowd. Some might argue that His ministry wasn’t being “blessed” because he was going through such hard times. Notice that the presence of trouble was not the measure used to determine the value of His ministry. If you look at these things that were happening, you can discern that there was an evil power fighting against Him. Why would a storm suddenly come up on the lake that threatened to kill them all? Why would demons trouble Him? There was definitely a spiritual battle going on behind the physical world. This is still happening today.
This is an interesting story in which a woman decided that all she needed to do was touch Jesus and she would be healed. She had already lost her entire income on doctors who took her money but didn’t give her a solution. I think that she may have been very sad, weak and fearful of what others may have thought of her. Bleeding was not considered to be a “clean” thing and she probably felt quite low in society having become poor trying to get “clean.”
It is interesting that she had enough faith to believe that touching Jesus clothes would be enough to heal her, even without asking. She turned out be exactly right. I have noticed something over the years about asking God in faith. God doesn’t appear to care as much about our method of asking as he does about our faith in what He can do. More than one leader in Christian ministry has been embarrassed by new believers who had the audacity to ask for something outrageous. It usually goes something like this: A Christian teacher is teaching about prayer or faith and one of the newest Christians (and sometimes not even a believer yet) decides to believe in Jesus right there and immediately ask for something like rain or healing. Just as the Christian leader tries to explain that God doesn’t give us everything we want, God decides to answer immediately and do exactly what was asked! God loves simple faith. People who have faith in the Son of God end up becoming his sons and daughters because they are expecting to be helped by the one who has been authorized to help them. Only He can save us from our most serious problem which is our sin. Can you see the pattern of Jesus ministry? He keeps loving mankind at His own expense and honors those who believe in what He is able to do for them. These words are a demonstration of the fact that we need Jesus and that He is our only true salvation. No other thing or person on earth can fill this need we have.