“Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years had endured much under many doctors.” ~ Mark 5:25

The poor woman in Mark 5, afflicted for over a decade, serves as a most faithful witness to Christ’s work and the healing that comes only from His presence. 

Her affliction was not merely physical, but spiritual. Suffering in this way, at this time, would have meant that she was cut off from her community. She was “unclean” and not to be touched. She had been cast out to suffer in silence and solitude. She had spent all of her time and her meager life savings seeking out answers, longing for a treatment to end her agony - to no avail. But she had not yet lost hope. She had heard of this Jesus and thought that maybe she, too, could be healed by Him. She’d tried everything else- what could it hurt to “reach out”?

So she goes to Christ, she reaches out and simply touches the hem of his garment. In this small, seemingly unnoticeable exchange something miraculous happens. Jesus notices. He notices this touch more than the touch of all the others bumping against Him in the crowd. 

This was the touch of a woman reaching out in faith, seeking healing from the Great Physician. With this simple touch, Christ’s power entered into her and she was delivered. At this moment, Jesus knows her. He knows her so personally and intimately that He names her “daughter.” This woman, who had bled for twelve years, is now covered in the blood of another kind. No longer the blood that had cut her off but instead the blood that binds and brings life! She is His own dear child. She is washed in His blood. All from a simple touch, because she dared to “reach out”. 

What is your affliction, dear child? What treatments have you sought out? What balms have you tried? Beloved, stop seeking! Run straight to the Healer. Go to Him- to the One who calls you out from the crowd, pours His power into you and names you as His own. Reach out and touch him- sit down at His table, wash in His font, wrap yourself in His garment and rest in His arms. “Go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (Mark 5:34).