twelve years
seems to rise up before us as we read, this verse. Jesus was going on an errand of mercy to heal the daughter of Jairus, and as he went the people thronged him. "And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment" (Mark 5:25-27).
I. THE WOMAN'S STATE OF CEREMONIAL UNCLEANNESS. For twelve years she had not been allowed within the precincts of the temple, and had been unable, therefore, to take part in the public worship of God as appointed in the books of Moses. And during the whole of the same long period she had been in a state of separation from all about her: whoever touched her became unclean; the bed she lay upon was unclean; the seats that she sat upon were unclean; whoever touched the bed that she lay upon or the seat that she sat upon was unclean. No wonder if for this reason alone "she had spent nil her living upon physicians" (Luke 8:43).
II. HER STATE OF PHYSICAL SUFFERING. She was afflicted with an exhausting disease, wasting her vital powers, and she suffered not only from that cause, but also from the vain attempts made by many physicians to relieve her, as well as from the anxiety of mind inseparable from her state of ceremonial impurity.
III. WHAT SHE SOUGHT. Not to be cleansed as by a priest—this could not be until she had been cured—bat to be healed as by a physician. "For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole" (Mark 5:28). The Great Physician accepts her, and fulfils her desire; for however imperfect her faith might be, and. however uninstructed she might herself be, yet there was faith in her sufficient "to make her whole" (Matthew 9:22).
IV. HOW THE HEALING WAS WROUGHT. The cure was effected by the power of Christ conveyed through the touch of his garment, on the condition of the woman's faith. In each of the miracles he uses such means as he thinks fit, and often different means, probably with the purpose in each case of awaking the spirit of the person to be healed so as to become capable of receiving the spiritual gift. As in the case of the lepers on whom he laid his hand, instead of becoming himself unclean, he becomes the channel of renewed life and health to those whom he touches.
V. THE CEREMONIAL CLEANSING STILL TO BE EFFECTED. As the leper, after he had been healed by our Lord, had to "go and show himself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded" (Matthew 8:4), so no doubt the woman cured of the issue of blood had to fulfill the legal requirement for her cleansing, by offering her sin offering and her burnt offering on the eighth day after her healing.
VI. SPIRITUAL APPLICATION OF THE MIRACLE. Sin can only be healed by the power of God through Christ brought into spiritual contact with the soul of the sinner, and there must be something of faith and love in the heart of the sinner, however imperfect its manifestation may be, in order that that spiritual contact between God's Spirit and his spirit may take place,
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR