A woman touched Jesus by the garment and was immediately healed. Jesus noticed something important happened and beckoned the healed person to come forward. The miracle was then made known. This testifies to the power of faith in Jesus Christ.
Mark 5 25:34
25. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
26. And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
27. When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
28. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
29. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
30. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
31. And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
32. And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
33. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
34. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Jesus the Christ
Written by James Talmage
Chapter 20
A REMARKABLE HEALING BY THE WAY.[682]
While Jesus was walking to the house of Jairus with a great crowd of people thronging about Him, the progress of the company was arrested by another case of suffering. In the throng was a woman who for twelve years had been afflicted with a serious ailment involving frequent hemorrhage. She had spent in medical treatment all she had owned, and “had suffered many things of many physicians,” but had steadily grown worse. She worked her way through the crowd, and, approaching Jesus from behind, touched His robe; “For she said, If I may touch but his clothes I shall be whole.” The effect was more than magical; immediately she felt the thrill of health throughout her body, and knew that she had been healed of her affliction. Her object attained, the blessing she sought being now secured, she tried to escape notice, by hastily dropping back into the crowd. But her touch was not unheeded by the Lord. He turned to look over the throng and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” or as Luke puts it, “Who touched me?” As the people denied, the impetuous Peter speaking for himself and the others said: “Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?” But Jesus answered: “Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.”
The woman, finding that she could not escape identification, came tremblingly forward, and, kneeling before the Lord, confessed what she had done, her reason for so doing, and the beneficent result. If she had expected censure her fears were promptly set at rest, for Jesus, addressing her by a term of respect and kindness, said: “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace,” and as Mark adds, “be whole of thy plague.”
This woman’s faith was sincere and free from guile, nevertheless it was in a sense defective. She believed that the influence of Christ’s person, and even that attaching to His raiment, was a remedial agency, ample to cure her malady; but she did not realize that the power to heal was an inherent attribute to be exercised at His will, and as the influence of faith might call it forth. True, her faith had already been in part rewarded, but of greater worth to her than the physical cure of her illness would be the assurance that the divine Healer had granted the desire of her heart, and that the faith she had manifested was accepted by Him. To correct her misapprehension and to confirm her faith, Jesus gently subjected her to the necessary ordeal of confession, which must have been made easier through her consciousness of the great relief already experienced. He confirmed the healing and let her depart with the comforting assurance that her recovery was permanent.
In contrast with the many cases of healing in connection with which the Lord charged the beneficiaries that they should tell none how or by whom they had been relieved, we see here that publicity was made sure by His own action, and that too, when secrecy was desired by the recipient of the blessing. The purposes and motives of Jesus may be but poorly understood by man; but in this woman’s case we see the possibility of stories strange and untrue getting afloat, and it appears to have been the wiser course to make plain the truth then and there. Moreover the spiritual worth of the miracle was greatly enhanced by the woman’s confession and by the Lord’s gracious assurance.
Observe the significant assertion, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” Faith is of itself a principle of power;[683] and by its presence or absence, by its fulness or paucity, even the Lord was and is influenced, and in great measure controlled, in the bestowal or withholding of blessings; for He ministers according to law, and not with caprice or uncertainty. We read that at a certain time and place Jesus “could there do no mighty work” because of the people’s unbelief. [684] Modern revelation specifies that faith to be healed is one of the gifts of the Spirit, analogous to the manifestations of faith in the work of healing others through the exercise of the power of the Holy Priesthood.[685]
Our Lord’s inquiry as to who had touched Him in the throng affords us another example of His asking questions in pursuance of a purpose, when He could readily have determined the facts directly and without aid from others. There was a special purpose in the question, as every teacher finds a means of instruction in questioning his pupils.[686] But there is in Christ’s question, “Who touched me?” a deeper significance than could inhere in a simple inquiry as to the identity of an individual; and this is implied in the Lord’s further words: “Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.” The usual external act by which His miracles were wrought was a word or a command, sometimes accompanied by the laying on of hands, or by some other physical ministration as in anointing the eyes of a blind man.[687] That there was an actual giving of His own strength to the afflicted whom He healed is evident from the present instance. Passive belief on the part of a would-be recipient of blessing is insufficient; only when it is vitalized into active faith is it a power; so also of one who ministers in the authority given of God, mental and spiritual energy must be operative if the service is to be effective.
[682] Mark 5:25-34; Matt. 9:20-22; Luke 8:43-48.
[683] “Articles of Faith,” v:11-13.
[684] Mark 6:5, 6; compare Matt. 13:58.
[685] Doc. and Cov. 46:19; compare Matt. 8:10; 9:28, 29. Acts 14:9.
[686] Why Did Jesus Make Inquiries?—We have already considered many instances of Christ’s possession of what man would call superhuman knowledge, extending even to the reading of unuttered thoughts. Some people find difficulty in reconciling this superior quality with the fact that Jesus often asked questions even on matters of minor circumstance. We should realize that even complete knowledge may not preclude the propriety of making inquiries, and, moreover, that even omniscience does not imply ever-present consciousness of all that is. Undoubtedly through his paternal heritage of divine attributes, Jesus had the power of ascertaining for Himself, by means not possessed by others, any facts He might have desired to know; nevertheless we find Him repeatedly asking questions on circumstantial detail (Mark 9:21; 8:27; Matt. 16:13; Luke 8:45); and this He did even after His resurrection (Luke 24:41; John 21:5; B. of M., 3 Nephi 17:7).
That catechization is one of the most effective means of mind development is exampled in the methods followed by the[Pg 326] best of human teachers. Trench (Notes on the Miracles, pp. 148-9), thus instructively points the lesson as illustrated by our Lord’s question concerning the woman who was healed of her issue of blood: With little force “can it be urged that it would have been inconsistent with absolute truth for the Lord to profess ignorance, and to ask the question which He did ask, if all the while He perfectly knew what He thus seemed implicitly to say that He did not know. A father among his children, and demanding Who committed this fault? himself conscious, even while he asks, but at the same time willing to bring the culprit to a full confession, and so to put him in a pardonable state, can he be said, in any way to violate the law of the highest truth? The same offense might be found in Elisha’s ‘Whence comest thou, Gehazi?’ (2 Kings 5:25) when his heart went with his servant all the way that he had gone; and even in the question of God Himself to Adam, ‘Where art thou?’ (Gen. 3:9), and to Cain, ‘Where is Abel thy brother?’ (Gen. 4:9). In every case there is a moral purpose in the question, an opportunity given even at the latest moment for making good at least a part of the error by its unreserved confession.”
[687] Matt. 8:3; Luke 4:40; 13:13; John 9:6; compare Mark 6:5; 7:33; 8:23.
[688] Matt. 9:27-35.