Mark 5:30-34: a reflection

30Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31His disciples said to him, “You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease.”

A woman who had suffered a bleeding condition for twelve years touches Jesus' garment in the crowd, hoping to be healed unnoticed, and she is. But Jesus does not let her slip away healed-but-hidden. Who touched my clothes? he asks, though the crowd is pressing all around. He looks around to find her. And the woman, trembling with fear, comes and falls before him and tells him the whole truth. Jesus could have let her go anonymously; instead he draws her into a face-to-face encounter.

Notice why Jesus stops for her. She had what she came for, physical healing; she could have disappeared into the crowd. But Jesus wanted more for her than an anonymous miracle. He wanted to know her, to have her come out of hiding, to speak to her personally. And what he gives her is not just healing but relationship and a word of peace: Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, be freed from your suffering. He calls her Daughter, and sends her away whole in body and at peace in heart.

There is something tender here about how Jesus deals with us. He is not content to help us anonymously, from a distance; he wants to know us, to draw us out of hiding, to speak to us personally, to give us not just his gifts but himself and his peace. If you have approached him timidly, hoping for help but keeping hidden, hear how he dealt with this woman. He calls the trembling and hidden to come forward, and he receives them not with rebuke but with tenderness: Daughter. Do not stay hidden in the crowd. Come to him personally, and receive not only his help but his peace.

Lord Jesus, you would not let the healed woman slip away hidden; you called her forward, knew her, and gave her not only healing but your peace, calling her Daughter. Thank you that you are not content to help me anonymously, but want to know me and give me yourself. When I approach you timidly, keeping hidden, draw me out, and receive me with tenderness. Let me come to you personally, and receive your peace.