December 31, 2023
Encountering Jesus
Mark 5:21-34
We will often see people do unusual things to accomplish what they want to accomplish, especially when people are in a time of need or are hurting. In situations like that, it is often the most desperate who act out in desperate ways.
Our passage, out of Mark chapter 5, is about a woman who is immensely desperate to reach Jesus. While her actions are out of line with the cultural expectations of the time, what is surprising, is Jesus‘ reaction to her.
Jesus has just returned to Capernaum from a gentile territory across the lake, where he healed a demon possessed man. He is immediately met by a large crowd who had heard all the things that he had been doing in the surrounding regions.
“Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake, where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.” Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him. A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?” His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’" But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” Mark 5:21-34 (NLT)
There’s a great deal of excitement and wonderment throughout the entire region of Galilee because of all the wonderful things Jesus had been doing— healing the sick, casting out demons, and teaching about the Messiah (Himself).
Immediately, upon getting off the boat, He is met with a large crowd numbering in the hundreds to thousands who want a chance to encounter Jesus.
One man, named Jairus, a leader in the local synagogue, makes his way to Jesus. His 12-year-old daughter was on the brink of death. The book of Luke tells us that this was his only child. The fact that this man’s only child was going to die any minute, explains why such a man of prominence would do something someone like him would never do in his society. He drops to Jesus’ feet and pleads with Him to come and heal his daughter. Jesus’ response was to immediately go with him. As they are heading to Jairus’ house, the crowd presses in around Jesus, and our desperate woman appears.
1. We must bring our needs to Jesus. (vv. 24-27)
Have you ever had a nosebleed that wouldn’t stop, or cut your finger or something else that just seemed to bleed forever? Imagine bleeding without end for 12 years. Even the simple inconvenience and annoyance of incessant bleeding would be unbearable for most of us.
We aren’t told what this woman’s bleeding was caused by. Whatever the cause, because of the Hebrew laws concerning ceremonial uncleanliness—(Leviticus 15, Leviticus 22, and Numbers 5)—this woman was suffering in ways that are lost on us in our modern culture. She was physically sick, she was likely in pain, and she was ceremonially unclean.
For her to be ceremonially unclean meant that she could not function within their society. She could have no one touch her. She wasn’t allowed in the temple to worship or make sacrifices to God. She wouldn’t be allowed in crowds because anyone who touched her would also become unclean. She was literally an outcast and lonely.
Her physical condition was not contagious, but her ceremonial condition was. When people saw her coming, they probably ducked out of their way or crossed the street just to avoid getting close to her. She may not have been able to marry or have children. She would not have been able to function in any active role in the community.
Because of her social status and isolation, we know that she tried anything and everything she could to overcome this sickness. She had no other option than to bring her need to Jesus.
We have an advantage this woman did not have. We can, and should always, bring our need to Jesus first.
2. Everyone is significant to Jesus. (vv. 28-34)
Whatever this woman had heard about Jesus was enough to make her think, “If I can just touch His robe, I will be healed.” The only problem is, she’s not supposed to be in public, let alone, touch anyone. (in which case it would make them unclean). In her mind, this may be her only chance to find any relief from her condition.
She doesn’t let her circumstances keep her from Jesus. Too often, we let other people determine what we will do and what we won’t do when it comes to pursuing Jesus based on what these other people think. We are to pursue Jesus no matter what! That is what this woman does here. She worked her way through the crowd, reaches out and touches Jesus’ robe and is immediately healed!
In verse 30, Jesus turns around and asks who touched him. He knew who touched Him—He’s God in the flesh—but Jesus is inviting the woman to do something He wants all of us to do. That is to make public our faith in Christ. He is inviting her to publicly confess what she’s done. God wants us to own our faith in Him and make it known to everyone around us!
The other gospel accounts of this encounter with Jesus tell us when everyone denied touching Jesus and the woman realized she couldn’t remain hidden, she confessed. Jesus knew it was this woman who touched him and he allowed her to be healed among all the others in the crowd.
This rejected, unclean, sick woman fell at the feet of Jesus with fear. She wouldn’t have known if He would reject her or publicly humiliate her as others would’ve done given her condition. Everyone knew she wasn’t supposed to be there, but Jesus’ reaction is unexpected.
His reaction tells us what it is like to be exposed in all our sin and uncleanliness, with the guilt and shame that comes with that, before a perfect and holy God. His response in verse 34 is to call her “daughter”. This is the only time we see Jesus do this.
The girl no one wanted is now seen as and is called “daughter” by God in the flesh. The name no one knew is now precious to God. Jesus does that with us. He always sees us and our needs in the crowd. None of us are lost in the crowd before Jesus. He knows our struggles intimately. Each one of us is significant to Jesus.
3. When we encounter Jesus, everything changes. (v. 34)
“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” Our western culture really doesn’t fully understand what is taking place here. A Jew or Muslim might best understand what is taking place. Here is what is shocking and is often missed in our culture. In this account, when the unclean thing touches the clean, when the woman touches Jesus, she becomes clean and healthy. That doesn’t happen with anything else!
This is a beautiful portrayal of the gospel. The central point of the gospel is substitution. On the cross, Jesus took our sin and the penalty for that sin upon Himself. His healing and standing with God, the Father, was then passed on to us. His righteousness was passed to us—His cleanliness was passed to us. When we reach out to Jesus in faith and encounter Him, our guilt and sin is taken away, Jesus’ righteousness passes to us and we stand redeemed before God. We are not perfect, but we are healed from our ultimate ailment of sin and seen as perfect before God. The exchange that takes place between Jesus and us is absolutely amazing, it changes everything!
Jesus says to the woman, “Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”
Everything for her has changed after her encounter with Jesus. The physical pain, discomfort, and constant annoyance of her sickness is gone. The daily worry about her ceremonial uncleanliness is gone. The judgment and rejection she experienced from every person she encountered is gone. The prohibition to worship God is gone. She is now accepted, understands her worth, and is released from suffering because of who she is in the eyes of the Savior.
When we encounter Jesus, everything changes. In the rest of the chapter, Jesus goes on to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead. Encountering Jesus changes everything.
The encounter this woman had with Jesus is not a prescription for how to get miracles from Jesus. It is a picture of our salvation. Every one of us is like this woman. Our sin has left us unclean and unfit to be in the presence of Jesus. We are guilty and cast out, unworthy and unable to come to Jesus. We are hopeless and all attempts to cure our ailment have failed. We are in this position because of our sin.
We must fight through the things that are crowding us and keeping us from encountering Jesus. Simply being around His presence won’t change anything. The woman reached out intentionally to encounter Jesus and experienced the change He brings. We don’t encounter Jesus simply by participating in the crowd. We must intentionally reach out to Him.
Jesus is working in our lives all the time. This story shows us how to approach Jesus with our problems. Jesus never turned away anyone who came to Him for help. He may not always answer the way you and I expect, but part of our putting our trust in Him is to know that His way is always better than our way.
Jesus does the unexpected. God’s plan is often different from ours but we know that His plan is always best! For 12 years, God was writing the story of this woman’s life to showcase who He is in this moment we have recorded in Mark 5. How long does it take us to grow impatient with God? Jesus wants us to be persistent in our faith.
What do you need from your encounter with Jesus today?
