²¹ And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.

²² And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

²³ And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.

²⁴ And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.

²⁵ And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,

²⁶ And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

²⁷ When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.

²⁸ For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

²⁹ And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

³⁰ And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?

³¹ And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?

³² And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.

³³ But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.

³⁴ And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. (Mark 5:21-34)

Because He was not wanted in the region of Gadara, Jesus left the Gadarenes. He returned to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (Mark 5:21) where “much people gathered to him.” If some reject Christ, there are others who will receive Him and make Him feel welcomed. A despised gospel will “cross the water” and go where it will have a better reception.

Now the Bible tells of a ruler of the synagogue named Jarius who was searching for Jesus. When the Lord was found, Jarius fell at his feet to plead openly for a cure for a sick child. Here was a ruler with righteous humility. “When he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet” recognizing Someone greater than himself. In the Jewish community Jarius was an important man. The ruler was the administrative head of the synagogue. He was responsible for the conduct of the temple services.

In a prostrate position before the Lord, his dignity forgotten, the Ruler of the Synagogue “besought Him greatly” as one who was in earnest and as a person who valued sincerity. Jarius knew that he would find mercy no-where else.

Like most parents, Jarius loved his little girl. He would not have hurt her prior to birth and he wanted to protect her now in the hour of pain. But he was helpless. There are limitations to what parent’s can do for their children. There are boundaries no one can cross except God.

Despite his own personal limitations, Jarius was convinced that if Jesus simply came and laid His hands upon his daughter, she would return from the gate of the grave. On this point his faith was unshakable. And when fresh information arrived that the child was dead, the faith of Jarius was challenged to believe that still the Lord could do something. “Come Lord,” he cried, “and my child shall live!”

Where does such fantastic faith come from? The world is left to wonder. In other passages of Scripture, we learn something about how faith can be increased.

First, the Bible teaches that faith comes by listening to the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).

It is possible that Jarius had witnessed other miracles of Christ or had heard of them. It is also possible that He was familiar with the message of the young Messiah and he believed it.

• Jarius believed that Jesus was born of a virgin.
• Jarius believed that Jesus was the Son of the Living God.
• Jarius believed that Jesus was the Savior of souls.
• Jarius believed that Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
• Jarius believed that Jesus was the Sovereign of society.
• Jarius heard the word of God, he believed what he heard, and faith came to his heart.

Second, faith comes by periods of quiet prayer.

It has been said that Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. We listen to God speak through His word, the Bible, and He listens to us speak through prayer. And greater faith comes because we pray to a prayer hearing God.

Third, faith comes to the soul and grows through remembering the promises of God.

As a student of Scripture, Jarius would have been familiar with the language of the Law, the writing of the prophets, and the Psalms of the saints. In each part of the Scriptures there are many precious promises.

• God has promised comfort to the afflicted.
• God has promised judgment to the backslider.
• God has promised protection to the children.
• God has promised to watch over the orphans and to take care of the widows.
• God has promised mercy to the penitents.
• God has promised salvation to the righteous.
• God has promised eternal life to those who seek first the kingdom of heaven.

Because Jarius remembered the promises of the Father-God to be merciful to the needy, he moved towards the Son of God in whom is expressed all of the attributes of the Godhead bodily, including pity (Col. 2:9).

As the Son of God looked at the grief-stricken man in the dust before His feet, He was moved with compassion. Jesus would go to the man’s home. He would minister to a sick child. He would have mercy. “And Jesus went with him and much people followed him and thronged him.” (Mark 5:24)

It was while the Lord was in the midst of ministering to one person that another individual also sought His power and His healing touch. There was a woman in the crowd that had an issue of blood.

For twelve years she had suffered.

For twelve years she had sought out the medical experts of her day.

For twelve years the woman had found no relief but was in fact made worse by the suggested remedies of that period.

For twelve years this woman was willing to spend all of her substance to find health, but to no avail.

Finally, when the woman was at the end of her own resources, she sought out Christ.

That is often the case with people spiritually. Individuals do not seek out the Saviour until they have tried all other things. Having lost confidence in all her earthly physicians to effect a cure, the woman discovered enough faith in the power of Christ to heal her. In the silence of her soul the woman thought, “If I may but touch his clothes, I shall be whole” (Mark 5:28).

The lady believed Christ would heal her, not as a prophet who derived value from God, but as the Son of God with virtue inherent in Himself. The distinction is important to note for Jesus was not like other religious figures. When He performed a miracle, it was because of His own volition or will. Moses was told what to say and do before Pharaoh. Elijah was led by the Spirit to perform His miracles. But Jesus made all such decisions Himself.

Here was a woman who saw before her eyes the Lord and Master of the moment. And while her modesty presented an open confession, her faith was suited to the cause.

And she was not disappointed. Coming into the crowd behind Jesus, the woman had great faith by a simple gesture in that she touched the hem of His garment. Immediately the woman felt the cure of Divine mercy course through her body. The flux of blood was dried up and the lady felt herself perfectly well all over. Herein is great grace.

We realize that most of the time, the cures that the Lord sends are through secondary means. They take time to be effective. God has certainly given much wisdom to mankind.

We esteem and value doctors and nurses as a secondary means of mercy and grace. The work they do is astonishing. A recent news report has given hope that one day even the blind will be able to see again through the use of computer chips being placed in the eye socket. There are many marvels to be discovered in medical science.

We thank the Lord for the medical profession. But at other times God is pleased to bypass secondary means and act directly in each situation. When God works in such a manner, the cure is perfect.

Now there is a spiritual disease on which God must act directly or there will be no hope for its victims. The disease is found in the heart of man. The heart of man is often described in very unflattering terms throughout the Bible. The Scriptures are under no illusions as to what individuals can do.

The heart of man is full of iniquity. “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5).

The heart of man loves evil. “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Rom. 1:32).

The heart of man is a fountain of evil. “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matt. 15:19).

It would be nice to be able to say that a heart full of iniquity, a heart that loves evil, and a heart that can spew forth vile things is characterized only by the unconverted, but that is not true. The sins of the saints are well documented in the Scriptures, in history, and in the life of the church today. In the pulpits and in the pews there are people with diseased hearts because Christ has not dealt with the root of sin.

He has not been asked to. Why? Sometimes the Lord is not sought because individuals believe they should go to others for counsel and advice such as worldly psychologist, cultic leaders, and liberal theologians.

Many non-Christian psychologists have tried to deal with sin, but since they do not understand the very disease, they are trying to treat, a misdiagnose takes place and the cures that are suggested only makes the patient worse.

When people are told that the source of their inward struggle is only a violent collision between the desires of the heart and the standards of society, they will only be made worse. And so they never hear about the new birth and conversion.

Again, when people are told by religious practitioners of science so called that sin is simply an illusion, and they believe that, they will only be made the worse. They will discover the hard way that sin is no illusion but a cruel taskmaster.

When people are led to believe that a new theology of self-esteem will enable them to be better, they are made all the worse.

Make no mistake, there are spiritual physicians of the heart today—in medicine, in religion, and in society—who will take money from people, but they are no better by the healing cures offered. Too much innate pride is the problem, not the solution to the pollution of the soul.

If there is any difference in people, it is that some will go to Christ and plead for a cure having finally realized that only the Creator can change His creation. If you are afflicted with a spiritual disease of the heart, it does not matter if you call yourself Christian or not; simply realize that only virtue and power can come from Christ. Therefore, a way has to be found to get to Him.

Is there such a way? The woman in the narrative found a way. Her faith laid hold of God when it was mingled with a simple gesture. When the woman touched Christ, the Bible says that He knew it—and He was not displeased (Mark 5:30). She thought that she had something to fear. She thought that the Lord would be upset. But He was not.

What Jesus wanted was a public recognition of Himself as Lord of the situation. So, Jesus asked a rhetorical question, “Who touched me.” The disciples were incredulous. They could not believe what they were hearing. “Lord, did you ask, ‘Who touched you?’ The crowd is pressing in on every side and you ask, ‘Who touched you?’” But there are different kinds of touches.

There are inappropriate touches.

When Adam and Eve touched the forbidden fruit, it was inappropriate. They took what did not belong to them.

When David touched the wife of Uriah the Hittite, it was inappropriate.

When the soldier’s slapped Jesus on the night of His crucifixion, it was inappropriate.

There are appropriate touches of love.

“When the child of Elisha’s promise was taken ill in the field one day, And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he [the father] said to a [another] lad, Carry him to his mother (2 Kgs. 4:19).” There was tenderness in the touch of the mother.

There is the touch of mercy and grace.

Jesus would often touch the outcast of society such as the lepers.

There is the touch of faith.

“Who touched me,” asked the Lord, and the woman confessed and said, “I touched you in faith. I believed that I could but touch the hem of your garment I would be cured. And look at me now.” By touching the hem of the Lord’s garment the woman expressed several things.

First, she expressed her own humility. In order to touch the hem of a garment the body has to be bent low. If sin and disease bends the soul downward, grace and gospel humility will cause it to go lower still in brokenness and need. Has God ever broken you?

Second, the touching of the hem of the garment expressed a point of contact between the Savior and herself. While God’s people ultimately walk by faith and not by sight, there is often a point of physical contact associated with faith—if only as a sign of salvation.

The Lord has given to His church the act of baptism as a point of contact of faith, and the elements of communion. In baptism faith in the saving work of Christ is expressed, and in communion we do show the Lord’s death until He comes.

Inward faith is expressed by outward deeds. “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works” (Jas. 2:17, 18).

Third, by touching the hem of the Lord’s garment, the woman expressed faith in His holiness and her honor of the Law of God. To a devout Jew, the hem of the garment was a sacred piece of clothing for in the Law specific consideration had been given to it.

Tassels and a ribbon of blue were to be worn on the hems of the garments to remind the Jews of the commandments of God.

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders, a ribbon of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God” (Num. 15:37-41).

The woman touched the Law of God perfected in Christ, and there was a miracle during ministry.

Such humility and faith will not go unrecognized in time or in eternity. “Christ puts honor upon faith, because faith gives honor to Christ.” Moreover, what is done by faith on earth is ratified in heaven. Christ said to the woman, “Be whole of thy disease.” And go in peace.

Matthew Henry notes, “They that by faith are healed of their spiritual diseases, have reason to go in peace.”

Perhaps there is someone who wants to touch Christ by faith. The heart is heavy with sin. Wrong choices in life have bowed the soul low until it seems that the heart will break. There is a constant dread associated with each day. Life itself has become a burden.

What can be done? The answer is this: If you can touch the Lord by faith, He will heal the spiritual diseases of the heart and mind and soul, and there will be reason to go in peace.

“Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness he requireth
Is to feel your need of him.”

~Joseph Hart