Jesus healed a lot of people while he walked the earth. Sometimes entire towns were emptied of all their sick people when Jesus came to visit. Wherever Jesus went, it seemed that the sick often streamed to his doorstep and he healed them all.
The Bible doesn’t talk about all of these healings or miracles. If it did, according to John, the world could not hold all the books that could be written (John 21:25). Only a few of Christ’s miracles are recorded in the Bible because there is something remarkable about these miracles that teach us important lessons.
Jairus
In Luke chapter 8, two powerful miracles are recorded which reveal important things about Jesus and the restorative power of God.
Jairus was the ruler of the synagogue in a town Jesus had come to visit. He was the one who led the religious community and was looked at as an authority in divine matters. Jairus’ only daughter was very sick, “near death”.
Jairus begged Jesus to come quickly to his house and heal his daughter before she passed away. She was only 12 years old.
Jesus agreed, and began walking to his house. As he went, there was a crowd of people around him. Jesus’ disciples were there, Jairus’ friends were there, and many other people were crowding around too, trying to get a glimpse of Jesus.
A Bleeding Woman
There was another woman in the town who was in a desperate situation, but she had been in such a situation longer than Jairus. In fact, she had been desperate for 12 years. She was bleeding, and her flow of blood never stopped. She had been to many doctors, and no one could help her. She spent all her resources to cure her disease and finally had come to a point where she had no money left. Now she was as desperate as ever. Life was draining out of her body.
For the 12 years that Jairus’ daughter had been alive, bringing joy to his house, this woman had been sick and struggling.
Unclean
This woman had another problem besides being sick and weak. Because her illness was a flow of blood, she was seen as religiously unclean.
And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days; and whosoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. (Lev. 15:19)
As long as there was a flow of blood, the woman was unclean. Only after the blood stopped flowing and she waited 7 days would she be clean. Because this woman had a continual flow of blood, she was continually unclean – for 12 years.
Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and everyone that has an issue… (Num. 5:2a)
Because of her constant flow of blood, she was separated from society – shunned by all her family and friends.
Uncleanness was a powerful concept in ancient Israel. Whoever the woman touched became unclean.
For unclean people like this, life in ancient Israel was not easy. They were separated from society, and unable to participate in the worship of God. If they touched anyone or anything, that person or thing would become unclean too. If they purposefully defiled someone or went into the synagogue, they would face severe punishment.
Approaching Jesus
As Jesus went through the town to Jairus’ house, this woman thought Jesus was her last chance. She believed that Jesus could heal, and knew that if she could just somehow touch him she would be made whole. Touch – that which had been forbidden her by religion – was to be her means of deliverance.
The problem was, everyone in the town probably knew this woman. She couldn’t just barge up to Jesus in the middle of such a crowd because they would thrust her away and condemn her as unclean before she got close enough.
So she disguised herself. She wrapped her shawl around her face. She ventured out and approached the crowd. If anyone saw her doing this, she would have faced grave consequences. She was taking a big risk.
Jesus was in the middle of the crowd. He was with all the leaders of the town. The ruler of the synagogue, Jairus, was there with all his important and “holy” friends.
Jairus as ruler of the synagogue was the one who enforced the laws of uncleanness in that community. He was the one who made sure that unclean people like this woman were not permitted to enter the synagogue, and he ensured that she didn’t touch anyone. If she did touch them, they would be sure to wash themselves with water and stay separate until evening.
Along with Jairus would have been all the important people in the community, including the other religious leaders.
The woman took a deep breath and plunged herself among them.
It seems like she was touching everyone. Jostling, pushing. This unclean woman was spreading her uncleanness all around.
She forced her way through the crowd. She somehow managed to get close enough to Jesus. She reached out and caught onto a corner of his robe. She touched him too.
Immediately spiritual power flashed out from Jesus’ body through his robe into the body of the woman. She felt her body was healed. Joy shot through her heart.
Unmasked
Jesus suddenly stopped the crowd.
Who touched me? he asked.
Peter, ever the practical disciple and the one who took it upon himself to correct the Lord whenever he felt he was in error or was being a bit too extreme, told Jesus that he was in the middle of a huge crowd of people and almost everyone was touching him. “How could you be so silly as to ask who touched you?”
There was a lot of touching happening. And an unclean woman was doing most of it.
Jesus replied, “Someone touched me differently than everyone else. Someone touched me in faith, drew spiritual power out of me, and got healed.”
Now the woman was facing a serious problem. She knew that everyone would recognize her as the town unclean woman.
Not only had she touched Jesus, which was illegal, but she had also touched almost everyone else in the crowd in the process. She made people unclean, and then they touched others and made them unclean. Her touch had made the entire crowd unclean!
They were all unclean anyway, each defiled by their own sins.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6
Jesus was aware of the danger the woman faced. Earlier he had healed a man in a synagogue on the Sabbath, and people had gotten so upset that they wanted to kill him. How would they react now that he had been touched by an unclean woman?
The woman wanted to run away and didn’t want anyone to know she was there. But she knew she had no choice, for Jesus was calling. She fell down, removed her shawl from her face, and admitted before them all that she was the one who had touched him. She was probably shaking in fear. She had just defiled Jesus and the whole town.
Jesus said, Daughter, be of good comfort. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.
This was the only woman in the New Testament that Jesus had addressed specifically as daughter.
Jesus wanted to bring public attention to the woman in order to complete her healing. He wanted her to be healed socially as well as physically. He wanted everyone to accept her just as he had. Society could touch her and be unafraid. It was his kindness that stripped away her disguise and showed everyone that he loved her – that she was as his own daughter.
A Distracted Crowd
These religious men were now face to face with a woman whose dignity they had trampled for 12 years. In normal circumstances they would have turned against her and become angry for defiling everyone in the town.
But before they could turn against the woman or against Jesus for encouraging her, news came that Jairus’s daughter had died.
Suddenly, Jairus didn’t care about uncleanness. His religious scruples died in the face of the news that his own daughter was dead. He could say nothing against the woman. All his friends were silent.
Jairus cared about his own daughter. He wanted her to be healed. He wanted God to touch his daughter. But God wanted Jairus to accept his daughter – the unclean woman. In years past, Jairus had disregarded and probably hurt this woman. No more. There was healing in this entire event for the whole town. Even Jairus and the leaders were getting healed – from pride and hypocrisy.
If Jesus had been as rigorous about uncleanness as Jairus had been, he never would have gone to his house. It was illegal to touch a dead body.
“Whoever touches the dead body of any person will be unclean for seven days” Num. 19:11
Jairus knew this. But Jesus went to Jairus’ house anyway. He went to touch his dead daughter, because Jesus is stronger than uncleanness.
There was a crowd of people at Jairus’ house. They were all crying loudly. This noise was more about social convention than genuine grief. When Jesus asked them to leave, they suddenly started laughing.
Jesus sent them all out.
He went in, touched the dead hand of Jairus’ daughter, and raised her back to life.
Death and uncleanness were swallowed up by life and holiness.
Jairus was overjoyed. Jesus said, don’t tell anyone what happened. Whereas the unclean woman needed God’s approval in front of everyone, Jairus needed to reflect privately on the astounding events of this day in order for his own heart to be healed.
In this miracle, Jesus healed both an unclean woman and a prominent man’s daughter. Both were unclean, and touching both was prohibited. But through these powerful, interwoven events, Jesus showed an entire community the power of God’s love to heal. Life is stronger than death, Jesus is more powerful than dead religion, and entire societies can be healed by a touch from God.
Bethel Cornerstone 