I am the Lord, your healer….God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away…..She said, “If I touch even His garments, I will be made well.” (Exodus 15:26; Rev 21:3-4; Mark 5:28)
The Woman Healed
In Mark 5:25-34 and also in Matthew and Luke, Scripture records the true account of a woman cured by Christ. The woman is described compassionately. She has been sick for a long time. She was probably poor, because she spent all her savings on doctors, but got worse instead of better. Maybe she was exploited also. Maybe her disease was beyond the reach of human medicine and only the Son of God, the Great Physician, could heal her problem. Maybe she was also unable to have children because of her perpetual bleeding. She wishes to be healed, saved, and live, and touching Jesus, she is cured! Christ said: “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Several songs have been written on this Bible account. The one I know best is the version by the Spencer Family, so I use that in this article.
Song Stanza #1
A woman one day tried many physicians
But daily grew worse, in the Bible we’re told
But when she had heard, she came to Jesus
And she found all she needed for her body and soul
Comment: God the Holy Spirit put this in Scripture to invite all of us to come to Jesus with our needs through prayer and receive His help with our spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional illnesses. Christ said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”1 Most people only come to faith in Jesus and prize Him when we feel ourselves in deep distress, and see that only He can relieve us. Christ did not say “No” to this woman and He won’t say “No” to us either. That’s the message of the chorus.
Chorus (after each verse)
If I could just touch the hem of His garment
If I could just touch one part of His clothes
I know I’d be healed, my sins all forgiven
If I could just touch Him, I know I’d be whole
Stanza #2
Blind Bartimaeus sat by the wayside begging
Nobody to help him down life’s weary way
Then Jesus came by, and He heard his sad crying
Christ reached out His hand and He healed him that day
Comment: This account is recorded in Mark 10:46-52 and also in Matthew and Luke. This is Jesus’ last healing in the Gospel According to Mark. This blind man survives by begging and sits by the roadside, hoping for kindness from Jewish pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. In the ancient world, there is no help from the government, so Bartimaeus is totally dependent on others for support, guidance, and protection. God commanded, “Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God….Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”2
When Bartimaeus hears that Christ was near, he shouts, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He understands that Jesus is God’s long-awaited Messiah. And the Son of God comes down to destroy the devil’s work.3 People tell Bartimaeus to hush up, but He hollers more, “Son of David, have mercy on me! Rabbi, I want to see.” Christ is filled with compassion and says, “Go, your faith has healed you.” Immediately Bartimaeus receives his sight and follows Jesus.
I love his persistence. His case was hopeless and he knew it, so he hung on to the Lord and would not let go. And Christ did not push him away. And Jesus won’t push us away either.
Stanza #3 applies the Scriptures to people nowadays and our needs.
Stanza #3
One day I sat by the wayside begging
Nobody to help me down life’s weary way
Then Jesus came by and He heard my sad crying
He reached out His hand and He saved me that day
Comment: In Luke 4, Christ quotes from Isaiah 61:1-2 which says: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve.”
We may experience pain that feels endless, situations that appear hopeless, or waiting that seems unbearable. We may feel that the odds are stacked against high and wide. We may not experience the healing we long for as we continue trusting Christ. But even then, Jesus invites us to keep reaching for Him, trusting Him, and never giving up hope. We are to believe that Christ is always able, always trustworthy, and always within reach.
Jesus announced that He will bring justice for needy and underprivileged people, healing for grieving, oppressed, and downtrodden people, freedom for people in physical and spiritual bondage. Christ announced that He came to fulfill Isaiah 61 and all the Scriptures. He brings us His blessings partly at His first coming, finally at His second coming, and along the way in between.
When you are hanging by a thread, make sure it is the hem of His garment. (Toby McKeehan)
Prayer: Lord Jesus, heal us and help us with our sickness and suffering, our pains and problems, our trials and troubles of all kinds. We have nowhere else to go. Only you have the words of real life, eternal life. Lord, we believe you. Help us overcome our unbelief. We are confident that you are the Holy One of God. We are helpless, but our help comes from you, the Maker and Master of heaven and earth. As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to you, the Lord our God, till you have mercy upon us. Amen.
Notes (various translations): 1 Matt 11:28-30. 2 Lev 19:14,18. 3 Gen 3:15; 1 John 3:8.