Hear the story
We will go through our story several times and in different ways so that it works its way into our minds and hearts. Listen carefully as we read this.
24bAnd a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32And he looked around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
24bAnd a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
30And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32And he looked around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Basic observation questions
We need to pay careful attention as we hear and read Scripture. We also need to be curious and ask lots of questions. Here are some very basic observation questions.
What questions do you have about these verses? (Answering these might need to wait until the “closer look” or “the story today” sections below. They can be collected and discussed at the appropriate time.)
What happens before this?
It’s important to keep our text in the context of what comes before it. (Let participants look this up). Answer: Jairus came to ask Jesus to heal his daughter. So our story takes place between[5] the beginning and the end of the story of the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead.[6]
Hear the story again
Watch a video of this passage (The Gospel of Mark, Lionsgate). What did you think of the video’s portrayal of our story? Was it like how you saw it in your mind as we read it? What was the same or different?
A closer look
Here we dig deep into the text; into its historical and cultural background, a few verses at a time, so that we understand better what the text means.
24bAnd a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.
Five statements here tell the sad situation of this woman. 1. She has a chronic bleeding disorder of some kind, probably related to her menstrual cycle. And she has had this condition for twelve years. She has suffered a long time. Apart from the physical aspect of this, according to the Law of Moses:
2. She has suffered much seeking help. She has gone to many physicians, not just a few. And their treatments are described as causing her misery. Many ancient physicians used crude and ineffective procedures. For her situation you might be required to drink a goblet of wine with a powder of rubber, alum and garden crocuses; or you might be shocked; or you might have to carry the ash of an ostrich’s egg in a special cloth.[7]
3. She’s now poor having spent all her resources on seeking these treatments. 4. Her health is not any better, and no wonder, given the treatments we just heard about! 5. And in fact, she’s worse than before despite all her money and all the physicians. She seems to be beyond human help.
27She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”
So Jesus’s reputation as a healer has spread far and wide. And she has heard about Jesus and now has hope that he can help. Her plan is for a secret healing. She comes up behind him and just touches his clothing and wants to slip away unnoticed. Matthew and Luke tell us more specifically that she touched “the fringe of his garment” (Matthew 9:20, Luke 8:44), one of the tassels which all devout Jewish males had on their clothes (Numbers 15:38–41).
Why do you think she wanted a secret healing? (Discussion). Perhaps she sees this as a private matter. Perhaps she’s very shy. Perhaps because she’s not supposed to touch anyone given her ritual impurity. Perhaps she was ashamed of her condition. We don’t know. What we do know is that she has great faith in Jesus. She believed that she only needed to touch his clothing to be healed.
29And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
The healing is instantaneous and complete. Notice the contrast between the effectiveness of Jesus and the futility of the doctors of that day.
What do you think of Jesus’s clothing transmitting healing? (Discussion). We also see this kind of thing in Mark 6:56 and Acts 19:11-12.
30And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”
Just as she feels in herself that she’s healed, Jesus perceives in himself that power has gone out. There are a few interesting things about this episode: 1. Jesus heals someone without even being asked. 2. He heals someone without knowing about it, until after it happened. 3. And although afterwards he knows it happened by supernatural knowledge, he doesn’t know who it is. And so he asks, who touched my garments?
Well, the disciples don’t even know what to do with this question.
31And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32And he looked around to see who had done it.
They’re saying, “Jesus, everyone is touching you!” But Jesus persists. And the woman’s hope for a secret healing is foiled.
33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.
Why do you think she was afraid? She was even trembling. (Discussion). Did she think she would be rebuked for touching Jesus in her uncleanness? Or for not asking Jesus for healing? And if Jesus is angry perhaps she thinks her healing might be rescinded.
Luke 8:45 tells us that everyone denied that they touched Jesus, at least in the way that Jesus is talking about. So it sounds like at first she tried to keep it a secret, but then comes forward before Jesus and tells the whole truth of what happened.
Why do you think Jesus draws her out in public like he does? (Discussion). Healings that are not publicly verified cannot bring glory to God or bear witness to who Jesus is as the Son of God. This reminds us that we need to give praise to God and bear witness for Jesus when he works in our lives in answer to prayer.
Jesus also wanted to speak to her, which he does in verse 34.
34And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
So Jesus isn’t angry! He uses a term of endearment, “daughter.” And he commends her for her faith and reassures her that the gift of her healing is indeed hers to keep. He also wished for her peace, that is, shalom; her wholeness and well-being.
(There are several options: Read it again, have the group repeat after you a phrase at a time and work your way through the whole story, have someone paraphrase it in their own words, have people work in small groups to paraphrase it, have people act it out, choose a key verse and work at memorizing it.)
The story today
This is where we move to application. What do we learn from this story that helps us in our Christian lives? (Open up time for discussion at the beginning or the end to let people share. The following are examples of points of application).
Any one of us can struggle with something that we don’t want others to know about. Perhaps, as here, it’s a private matter. Perhaps we’re ashamed of our struggle. Or perhaps there is an element of scandal to it, like how she was in public and touching people, although unclean. So we think, if people knew this, they would think of me differently or condemn me. What do we learn about bringing our private struggles to Jesus from this story? (Discussion). Jesus was not ashamed of her. He did not condemn her. Coming to him with our struggles is always the right thing to do. He made her whole and owned her as “daughter.” Also, as we see in her story, he may ask us to testify to his work in our life for others to hear and be helped, and to bring glory to God.
Another lesson is Jesus’s amazing power to save! He doesn’t just do miracles, he does extraordinary miracles. Recently he calmed the storm with the mere words of his mouth, and he easily cast out over five thousand demons. And now he has cured someone, whom no one else could. And the healing was instantaneous. We are reminded yet again that Jesus is amazing! And these miracles also should draw us to come to him with our needs for salvation, healing and help. Even if it seems to be a hopeless situation. What situations do you need to bring to Jesus?
This woman came to Jesus and received healing. What can we learn from her about faith as we approach God? (Discussion). According to verse 27 her faith was built up by hearing reports about Jesus and all that he did. Also, when she came to Jesus, she didn’t need him to do something elaborate or to even show her any attention. She knew that he was so powerful that all she needed to do was touch his clothing. Her hopeless situation was an easy thing for Jesus. And because of her faith, she was made whole. Think about this. Many people touched Jesus that day in the crowd going to Jairus’ house, but only she was healed. And she received from Jesus because she touched Jesus with faith. We are also to reach out to Jesus in our time of need in the same way.
How will you respond?
It is not enough to study the Bible to learn ideas and facts. The point of studying Scripture is to be transformed by it so that we live differently. How does this passage challenge us to act differently?
We can each respond by choosing an “I will” commitment, to put what we have learned into practice, as in Discovery Bible Study. (If time allows, each person’s “I will” commitment can be reviewed at the beginning of the next session for accountability and encouragement.)
Here are some examples of “I will” commitments you can use. But listen for the Spirit for how God wants you to respond, even if it is not one of these. How is God speaking to you?
[1] v. 25 – twelve years.
[2] v. 27 – Jesus’s garment; his clothing.
[3] v. 30 – he asked, “Who touched my garment?”
[4] v. 34 – “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
[5] It is not uncommon for stories in Mark to be presented in a sandwich form – with one in the middle of another story. This is called intercalation.
[6] There are several parallels between these two intertwined stories: 1) Both stories show Jesus’s concern for women. 2) The girl is twelve years old – 5:42; the woman suffered for twelve years – 5:25. 3) Jairus falls at Jesus’s feet – 5:22; the woman falls at Jesus’s feet – 5:33. 4) In both there is a concern for healing, expressed by a word (“made well”) that also means salvation – 5:23; 5:28, 34. 5) Jairus is told not to fear – 5:36; the woman is afraid after she is found out – 5:33. 6) In both faith is emphasized – 5:34; 5:36. 7) Both involve ritual impurity according to the Law of Moses – death; menstruation.
[7] Talbert, p. 174, referencing William Lane’s research