Jesus and a Bleeding Woman                                                                                                 F - 1

 

When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.  He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Mark 5:21-34 (NIV)

 

Despite of years of suffering, despite years of being a social outcast, a faith-filled woman was hopeful and optimistic that this preacher person was the right person to heal her!  Simple belief yet showing real effort to get near Jesus let alone touch the hem of His garment.

Be sure you re-read this short story because there is far more to learn than you might think!  She is more like us, with a full plate in life, struggling with disease, needing hope and a healing.

This hurting woman, though not important to those who considered themselves important, was extremely important to Jesus.  Think about that!  Why was that the case?  What can we learn from that fact?

We have added additional questions below so you can identify with this person.

 

1) It says that a large crowd gathered around him, and that this crowd “pressed around Him”.  How did the woman feel seeing this possible barrier?

2) What was her level of determination to get next to Jesus?

3) In the time of Jesus, people such as this woman would be called “unclean”.  They would be expected to stay inside their home, away from everyone. But there is this woman, out in a crowd.  Might she have sensed potential danger if recognized?

4) Do you think that Jesus was moved by the solitude and loneliness this woman experienced, due to her physical condition?

5) Why did she come to Jesus from behind.  Perhaps Jesus wouldn’t be able to see her and therefore she could avoid any retribution?

6) Perhaps a hundred people or more came in close contact with Jesus that day, brushing up and touching His clothes.  So what happened here?  Was this woman’s touch different in some way?

7) Why was it important for Jesus to find that particular person who touched His clothes and who did it with faith and hope?

8) Notice the woman came to Jesus “trembling with fear”.  Falling at His feet?  Why?  Might she worry that she would be in some kind of trouble?

9) Why did Jesus tell her to “go in peace”?  Might He have known of all her fears?

10) How about you?  Can you identify with her?  In what ways?

11) Are you ready to do what this woman did?