25 Among them was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered very much from many doctors and had spent all the money she had, but instead of improving, she was getting worse. 27 When the woman heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his coat. 28 She thought, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Instantly her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her disease. ~ Mark 5:25-29
Today, we return to Mark 5 where the Lord Jesus has been going from town to town, healing the sick and preaching the Good News about the forgiveness of sin. On this particular day, we note the change of heart in the people who lived in the area where the man possessed by as many as 6000 demons lived. The tremendous change in the hearts of the people was due to the changed life of the former demonic man. It is obvious that he went throughout the area telling his story to whomever would listen.
In v.25-26 of today's text we read, "25 Among them was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered very much from many doctors and had spent all the money she had, but instead of improving, she was getting worse."
Mark interrupts the story of the desperate leader of the synagogue and his twelve year old daughter with the story of a woman who had an issue with bleeding for twelve years. The bleeding this woman was experiencing made her unclean and unfit for worship in the synagogue over which Jairus presided. According to the Law of Moses, if she had touched anyone in her condition, they also would have been pronounced unclean. But, like Jairus, she was desperate. She had spent her life’s savings on physicians to no avail.
In v.26 of today's passage we read, "...but instead of improving, she was getting worse."
This lady's condition had not only made her socially poor, it also made her economically poor. However, through her poverty she was being made rich, spiritually. Had she not gotten worse, she would not have come to experience the touch of the Lord Jesus. When our trials increase, we must find our way to worship God through them, because God will deepen us with Him through those hard times if we are receptive to that deepening.
This condition this lady had was bigger than anything in her life. And, her encounter with God was to teach her how to see that God is bigger than her biggest problems. This is the point of all of our problems: to discover that He is bigger than any of them. And, He always uses them to enable us to see Him with our hearts as He is, and, to bring about His biggest purposes in our lives.
God did not create evil, but He did create the potential for evil. The Bible says God is good and only does good things, He does not commit evil acts. But, He created the possibility of evil by giving people free choice. There could not be a world where there is genuine freedom and thus the ultimate value, which is love, unless there were human choice. We can not have human choice unless we give people an actual choice between the highest good or the highest evil.
So, if people do certain activities, take certain substances, incur certain consequences, that's because God has allowed free choice. And, God had to allow free choice because there could not be genuine love, which is the highest value, unless there were absolute freedom of choice.
God desires for us the response of Jairus and this woman with this issue with bleeding. He desires for us worship. They both bowed down before Him. He desires this not for His benefit but for ours. You see, He knows that what we worship will define us. The problem is our pain either moves us to God or moves us away from God. At the end of it all, it is our choice.
In v.27-28 of today's text we read, "27 When the woman heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his coat. 28 She thought, 'If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.'"
In v.23 Jairus wanted the Lord Jesus to touch his daughter. In v.27 the woman wanted to touch the Lord Jesus. Jairus risked his position by associating with the Lord Jesus, while this woman risked being thrown out of the city by touching the Lord Jesus. They knew that this was the risk they had to take, for they had run out of options. And, after touching the Lord Jesus, the woman was healed.
