Mar 5:24-34 | JFB | STEP | 24. And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him-- The word in Luke ( ) is stronger--"choked," "stifled Him."

‏ Mark 5:24-34

24. And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him--The word in Luke (Lu 8:42) is stronger--"choked," "stifled Him."

26. And had suffered many things of many physicians--The expression perhaps does not necessarily refer to the suffering she endured under medical treatment, but to the much varied treatment which she underwent.

and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse--pitiable case, and affectingly aggravated; emblem of our natural state as fallen creatures (Eze 16:5, 6), and illustrating the worse than vanity of all human remedies for spiritual maladies (Ho 5:13). The higher design of all our Lord's miracles of healing irresistibly suggests this way of viewing the present case, the propriety of which will still more appear as we proceed.

27. When she had heard of Jesus, came--This was the right experiment at last. What had she "heard of Jesus?" No doubt it was His marvellous cures she had heard of; and the hearing of these, in connection with her bitter experience of the vanity of applying to any other, had been blessed to the kindling in her soul of a firm confidence that He who had so willingly wrought such cures on others was able and would not refuse to heal her also.

in the press behind--shrinking, yet seeking.

touched his garment--According to the ceremonial law, the touch of anyone having the disease which this woman had would have defiled the person touched. Some think that the recollection of this may account for her stealthily approaching Him in the crowd behind, and touching but the hem of His garment. But there was an instinct in the faith which brought her to Jesus, which taught her, that if that touch could set her free from the defiling disease itself, it was impossible to communicate defilement to Him, and that this wondrous Healer must be above such laws.

28. For she said--"within herself" (Mt 9:21).

If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole--that is, if I may but come in contact with this glorious Healer at all. Remarkable faith this!

29. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up--Not only was her issue of blood stanched (Lu 8:44), but the cause of it was thoroughly removed, insomuch that by her bodily sensations she immediately knew herself perfectly cured.

30. And Jesus immediately knowing in himself that virtue--or "efficacy."

had gone out of him--He was conscious of the forthgoing of His healing power, which was not--as in prophets and apostles--something foreign to Himself and imparted merely, but what He had dwelling within Him as "His own fulness."

turned him about in the press--crowd.

and said, Who touched my clothes?

31. And his disciples said unto him--Luke says (Lu 8:45), "When all denied, Peter and they that were with Him said, Master."

Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?--"Askest thou, Lord, who touched Thee? Rather ask who touched Thee not in such a throng." "And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched Me"--"a certain person has touched Me"--"for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me" (Lu 8:46). Yes, the multitude "thronged and pressed Him"--they jostled against Him, but all involuntarily; they were merely carried along; but one, one only--"a certain person--TOUCHED Him," with the conscious, voluntary, dependent touch of faith, reaching forth its hand expressly to have contact with Him. This and this only Jesus acknowledges and seeks out. Even so, as Augustine long ago said, multitudes still come similarly close to Christ in the means of grace, but all to no purpose, being only sucked into the crowd. The voluntary, living contact of faith is that electric conductor which alone draws virtue out of Him.

32. And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing--not for the purpose of summoning forth a culprit, but, as we shall presently see, to obtain from the healed one a testimony to what He had done for her.

33. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her--alarmed, as a humble, shrinking female would naturally be, at the necessity of so public an exposure of herself, yet conscious that she had a tale to tell which would speak for her.

came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth--In Luke (Lu 8:47) it is, "When the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before Him, she declared unto Him before all the people for what cause she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately." This, though it tried the modesty of the believing woman, was just what Christ wanted in dragging her forth, her public testimony to the facts of her case--the disease, with her abortive efforts at a cure, and the instantaneous and perfect relief which her touching the Great Healer had brought her.

34. And he said unto her, Daughter--"be of good comfort" (Lu 8:48).

thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague--Though healed as soon as she believed, it seemed to her a stolen cure--she feared to acknowledge it. Jesus therefore sets His royal seal upon it. But what a glorious dismissal from the lips of Him who is "our Peace" is that, "Go in peace!"

Jairus' Daughter Raised to Life (Mr 5:35-43).