21Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. 22And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 23and begged Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live." 24So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.
25Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well."
29Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?"
31But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, "Who touched Me?"'
32And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."
35While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?"
36As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid; only believe." 37And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. 39When He came in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping."
40And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. 41Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." 42Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement. 43But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.
There are many similarities in the stories between these two people who came to Jesus for help. The ruler of the Synagogue had a daughter for 12 years, the woman had suffered her affliction for 12 years.
Both were at a point where they felt no one else would be able to help them. His daughter was at the point of death. The woman had gone to many physicians.
They both had faith. The ruler of the synagogue asked Jesus to come and lay His hands on her that she may be healed. The woman felt that if she were able to just touch His clothes she would be healed.
They were both surrounded by people of weaker faith. The disciples were unbelieving that Jesus would care or know about one particular person who touched Him when He was surrounded by a throng. Someone from the house of the ruler of the synagogue came to say it wasn't worth bothering Jesus any longer. Those at the house ridiculed Him.
They were both afraid. The woman who hoped to just touch Jesus' cloak then go unnoticed in the crowd was singled out and had to face Jesus with what she did. Jesus urged the ruler of the synagogue to not be afraid.
Both were healed, their fears removed, and were brought peace. The woman's affliction was removed and Jesus told her to go in peace. The ruler's daughter was brought back to life and Jesus instructed them with the normal, peaceful activity to give the girl something to eat. No more commotion and weeping.
In both cases, it is their faith that made the difference. The woman brought her strong faith herself. Jesus encouraged the ruler in his faith, saying do not be afraid; only believe.
Is our faith that strong? Jesus can feel each of our appeals. There are so many who want Jesus' attention that it seems we would only be lost in the shuffle. But He can pick us out in a crowd. Those around us may question our faith. But a strong faith will be rewarded. And when we feel our faith faltering a little, turn to Jesus. He will encourage us. Faith will bring us peace.
There are a couple other interesting things worth commenting on in this passage. The first is the reference to Jesus immediately knowing that power had gone out of him. Unfortunately, having been brought up on many stories of Superman and other super heroes, this text conjures up images totally out of character with what we would expect to see in the story of Jesus. This text makes me think of a super hero who has a limited amount of super natural powers which some evil foe might find a way to drain away from him. Even his clothing is magical. When the super hero realizes what his evil foe has done, he reacts in anger "Who did this to me?"
Is this what happened to Jesus? No, I don't think so. I think this is a case of letting our current culture influence our understanding of what we read. There is not much here to really explain what this is about. But let me offer an alternative. Our God is a triune God, three Gods, but really one God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We often read about Jesus praying to God the Father. But what about the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit came to Jesus when he was baptized. Could it be by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus did all the miraculous healing? I wouldn't be surprised that Jesus would feel the power of the Holy Spirit working within Him and through Him.
There is nothing in the text that says Jesus was angry as he asked who touched His clothes. If the Holy Spirit healed the woman with the strong faith, it would have been very important that Jesus talk to the woman to help her understand it was her faith that healed her, not some mystical power in his clothing.
In our faith journey, it is not any particular plateau (such as this woman's finally touching Jesus' clothes), but our struggles to really reach Jesus that heal us.
The other interesting point worth discussing is when Jesus commanded them that no one should know of his restoring the life to the little girl. Jesus just got back from crossing the sea where he helped the man possessed by a legion of demons. He instructed this man to tell everyone he knew about what had happened. Now here is saying to tell no one! Why the change?
There are a couple reasons I see why he might have done this. His mission was to preach. Even though he took time to show compassion and heal the sick whenever he was presented with people's afflictions, His mission was still to preach. If word got out about all the healing He could do, He would be in such high demand to simply heal people that He wouldn't be able to preach as effectively. Even by telling everyone so far that they should tell no one, he is already getting crowds around him. So many were seeking Him out to cure their illnesses.
The other reason I see is that it simply wasn't time yet. He will soon be commissioning others to go out and spread the Word, but not yet. He knew that the final task that he must do, even after all the preaching is to die for our sins. In order to die for our sins, he must go through the full plan of betrayal, capture, and death on the cross. If word got out that he could heal any affliction, I wonder if the people would have banded together and done something to prevent the necessary outcome of death. Jesus knew he had to follow his work through to the end.
I can't imagine this sad life that Jesus was faced with. He saw people's pain. He healed as many as he could. Because he was developing such a reputation as a healer, he probably saw even more suffering in those few years than most people would in a lifetime. He preached the Word to everyone who would listen, but were they listening? He was planning the ultimate sacrifice for people who didn't/wouldn't understand him, people who scorned him. Sadly enough, this is what God still sees today. He did this because He loves us. Even though we are not worthy of it, He still loves us today. Thank God for that kind of love!