21 When Jesus went in the boat back to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him there. 22 A leader of the synagogue, named Jairus, came there, saw Jesus, and fell at his feet. 23 He begged Jesus, saying again and again, “My daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so she will be healed and will live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed Jesus and pushed very close around him. 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.
30 At once Jesus felt power go out from him. So he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 His followers said, “Look at how many people are pushing against you! And you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus continued looking around to see who had touched him. 33 The woman, knowing that she was healed, came and fell at Jesus’ feet. Shaking with fear, she told him the whole truth. 34 Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace; be healed of your disease.”
Read Mark 5:21-34 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
I am always fascinated by Jesus and how He interacted with people. In this event, Jesus is on the way to perform a miracle, which in itself is interesting, because all He needed to do was say the word and Jairus’ daughter would be healed.
But perhaps making the trip to personally visit the dying girl was intentional – perhaps not as much about the girl herself, but about providing the woman our passage focuses in on an opportunity to be healed.
This woman sneaks up and touches the edge of Jesus’ garment and in that instant, she knows she has been healed, but before she is able to get away, Jesus stopped everything He was doing to shine the spotlight on what happened.
Had Jesus simply continued on His mission to help the girl, this miracle would have never been recorded, and it would have gone down in history as “The Secret Miracle”.
Why would Jesus push pause on His mission to help a little girl in order to shine the spotlight on a miracle that wanted to remain secret?
I think because Jesus wanted to direct the crowd to pay attention to a teaching moment. It would have been so easy to keep going and then make a point to find the woman later. But if that would have been Jesus’ choice, the significance of what happened wouldn’t be so impactful.
This is because for Jesus, He wants to help draw our attention onto miracles that God has done, and onto individuals who have extraordinary faith. Jesus was incredibly aware of what was happening around Him and this woman was healed because of her great faith. Regardless of where Jesus was headed or what He was about to do, Jesus pauses His mission because He wants us to pay attention to this event.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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