The Touch of His Garment

The Touch of His Garment

  Mark 5:25 And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years,  5:26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that  she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.  5:27 She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.  5:28 For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well."  5:29 And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.  5:30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him,  immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, "Who touched my  garments?"  5:31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, —Who touched me?'"  5:32 And he looked around to see who had done it.  5:33 But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and  trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.  5:34 And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

            I have heard it said a lot that God may not want to heal somebody.  We can ask Him to heal us, but if it isn’t His will, He won’t.  You may ask why it wouldn’t be His will, and the answer is usually something like “God wants us sick to teach us things.”

            That may make sense in some way, but that still doesn’t make it true.  And the story we quoted here makes you wonder.  This woman never asked Jesus to heal her.  If she prayed for healing during those twelve years, the passage doesn’t say.  If it had been relevant to the outcome of the story, it would have said so.  She said that if she only touched his garments, she would be made well.  She did, and she was.  Jesus had to look around to see who had done it.

            We have this picture of God as a king sitting on His royal throne and people come before Him in their prayers, asking for healing.  To some He says yes, and to others He says no.  This woman saw healing as a blessing from God, like free food on a buffet table.  Why do we always see God as Someone who is so hard to figure out?