Healed Through Faith

𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐘 𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝟐𝟖:𝟏𝟎-𝟐𝟐

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟗𝟏:𝟏-𝟒, 𝟏𝟒-𝟏𝟓 “𝐈𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐦𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐈 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭.” 𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟗:𝟏𝟖-𝟐𝟔

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” (𝒗.22) 

           If you want to get a more complete picture of this narrative on the healing of the woman suffering from hemorrhage for 12 years and the raising of the 12-year old daughter of the leader of a synagogue, you can read either 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝟓:𝟐𝟏-𝟒𝟑 or 𝐋𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝟖:𝟒𝟎-𝟓𝟔 as this version of Matthew has been abbreviated drastically.

         In fact, Matthew only identified the father of the dead girl as a “𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔” (𝒗.18) while Mark and Luke called him Jairus who was the leader of the synagogue. All three Gospel writers, however, were silent on the identity of the hemorrhaging woman. But in the Acts of Pilate also known as the Gospel of Nicodemus which have been categorized as apocryphal writings - the woman was identified as Bernice.

         However, what is important in this narrative is not the names of the woman nor the official but the personal concern of Jesus for the needs of others and his readiness to heal and restore life. In this Gospel passage we see in Jesus the infinite love of God extending to each and every individual as he gives himself freely and wholly to each person he meets.

         Jesus indeed is a loving God who brings forgiveness, joy and healing to those who come to him but his response to our cry for help is predicated on the way we come to him. There shouldn’t be any doubt in our minds that Jesus who is the Christ will save us and bring us out of the darkness of our lives into his marvelous light.

         But to benefit from his kindness and generosity, we must come to Jesus with expectant faith and not with skepticism or doubt because Jesus will give hope when we have lost all hope as he did with the woman: “𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” (𝒗.22)

         What we can see from the two scenarios was the relationship between effective faith and hopeful anticipation. The woman knew in her heart that Jesus was the only chance she has to be healed of her infirmity while the official’s faith was also one of hopeful anticipation as he disregarded what his family and neighbors said as he placed his complete trust in Jesus.

         This Gospel passage reveals not just the awesome power of Jesus over diseases and death but also the natural tendency of men to seek what to them was the only option available when all hope was lost. The problem of the woman was not just her affliction but that the hemorrhage that has been going on for 12 years had made her unclean and unfit to worship God at the temple and or association with her friends.

         This posed a major concern because no matter how much she believed in the healing power of Jesus she knew that her condition would also make Jesus unclean under Jewish law if she was to touch him. This was the reason “she came up behind him and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘𝑰𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝑰 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔, 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒅.’ (𝒗.21)        

What followed was a beautiful scenario as Jesus turned around and seeing her said: “𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕, 𝒅𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” (𝒗.22) and this gives us a preview of what is needed when we come to Jesus and seek favors from him. Faith is the key that unlocks the compassion of Jesus for those in need such as this woman.

         And the message for us is that the woman was healed because she was willing to touch Jesus. Today God gives us the opportunity to touch Jesus and be saved by gathering all the faith that we can muster and obey his Word through the Sacred Scriptures which should not pose any difficulty at all. Why? Because Jesus has been present in our lives all along when “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒔.” (𝑱𝒏 1:14) and indwelt in us when he ascended to heaven and left the Holy Spirit to be our comforter, teacher, healer and light.

         We should never even for once doubt the power of Jesus to put fire and magnify our lives but this is largely dependent on our response to his invitation to trust him and we should because “𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔” (𝑹𝒐𝒎 5:8) and “𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒉, 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅” (𝑹𝒐𝒎 8:38-39).        

This is the same with the daughter of the ruler who knelt down before Jesus who upon entering the house rebuked the noisy crowd saying: “𝑮𝒐 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑.” (𝒗.24) Even if the crowd laughed at him, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. (𝒗.25)        

We may not know it but our lives today are inextricably linked to every detail in this passage. Many of us will find that our talents and skills are limited and there are many things we are incapable of doing and, when we have lost all sense of hope just like the woman and the synagogue official, that is when we look to Jesus who is only too willing to touch us.

         And like the daughter who was raised back to life, those of us who believe and whose lives have been touched by Jesus will have experienced a spiritual resurrection in the here and now (𝐂𝐨𝐥 𝟐:𝟏𝟑) and will experience a resurrection into eternal life in the future (𝐉𝐧 𝟏𝟏:𝟐𝟓).         There is thus no affliction, pain or suffering that we may be going through that cannot be healed by the simple touch of Jesus. The question we need to ask is: are we willing to touch Jesus and be touched by him. Because to touch and be touched by Jesus is not only an opportunity but a leap of faith from death to life, from darkness to light, from a life of want to a life of abundant blessings.

         In this passage we see that we can turn our despair into joy just like the joy of the woman and the parents of the dead child raised back to life but to touch Jesus means a life of obedience to his Will and to his Word. Jesus is always ready to heal and restore life but to touch Jesus and be touched by Him means we are prepared to share his life, experiences and even his suffering. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 7, 2025)