Luke 8:46-48

As Jesus went along with Jairus, the large crowd which had heard the father’s request followed on to see what would happen. Shortly before they reached the ruler’s house, as they hastened through a narrow street and as the throng jostled him, Jesus suddenly stopped, exclaiming, “Someone touched me.” And when those who were near him denied that they had touched him, Peter spoke up: “Master, you can see that this crowd presses you, threatening to crush us, and yet you say ‘someone has touched me.’ What do you mean?” Then Jesus said: “I asked who touched me, for I perceived that living energy had gone forth from me.” As Jesus looked about him, his eyes fell upon a near-by woman, who, coming forward, knelt at his feet and said: “For years I have been afflicted with a scourging hemorrhage. I have suffered many things from many physicians; I have spent all my substance, but none could cure me. Then I heard of you, and I thought if I may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall certainly be made whole. And so I pressed forward with the crowd as it moved along until, standing near you, Master, I touched the border of your garment, and I was made whole; I know that I have been healed of my affliction.”

When Jesus heard this, he took the woman by the hand and, lifting her up, said: “Daughter, your faith has made you whole; go in peace.” It was her faith and not her touch that made her whole. And this case is a good illustration of many apparently miraculous cures which attended upon Jesus’ earth career, but which he in no sense consciously willed. The passing of time demonstrated that this woman was really cured of her malady. Her faith was of the sort that laid direct hold upon the creative power resident in the Master’s person. With the faith she had, it was only necessary to approach the Master’s person. It was not at all necessary to touch his garment; that was merely the superstitious part of her belief. Jesus called this woman, Veronica of Caesarea-Philippi, into his presence to correct two errors which might have lingered in her mind, or which might have persisted in the minds of those who witnessed this healing: He did not want Veronica to go away thinking that her fear in attempting to steal her cure had been honored, or that her superstition in associating the touch of his garment with her healing had been effective. He desired all to know that it was her pure and living faith that had wrought the cure.

Jesus, who had heard all of this conversation through an open window, now came outside, much to their surprise, and said: “O woman, great is your faith, so great that I cannot withhold that which you desire; go your way in peace. Your daughter already has been made whole.” And the little girl was well from that hour. As Norana and the child took leave, Jesus entreated them to tell no one of this occurrence; and while his associates did comply with this request, the mother and the child ceased not to proclaim the fact of the little girl’s healing throughout all the countryside and even in Sidon, so much so that Jesus found it advisable to change his lodgings within a few days.

Abner had arranged for the Master to teach in the synagogue on this Sabbath day, the first time Jesus had appeared in a synagogue since they had all been closed to his teachings by order of the Sanhedrin. At the conclusion of the service Jesus looked down before him upon an elderly woman who wore a downcast expression, and who was much bent in form. This woman had long been fear-ridden, and all joy had passed out of her life. As Jesus stepped down from the pulpit, he went over to her and, touching her bowed-over form on the shoulder, said: “Woman, if you would only believe, you could be wholly loosed from your spirit of infirmity.” And this woman, who had been bowed down and bound up by the depressions of fear for more than eighteen years, believed the words of the Master and by faith straightened up immediately. When this woman saw that she had been made straight, she lifted up her voice and glorified God.

The Master could discern saving faith in the gross superstition of the woman who sought healing by touching the hem of his garment. He was always ready and willing to stop a sermon or detain a multitude while he ministered to the needs of a single person, even to a little child. Great things happened not only because people had faith in Jesus, but also because Jesus had so much faith in them.

When Simon and his friends who sat at meat with him heard these words, they were the more astonished, and they began to whisper among themselves, “Who is this man that he even dares to forgive sins?” And when Jesus heard them thus murmuring, he turned to dismiss the woman, saying, “Woman, go in peace; your faith has saved you.”

When Jesus heard these words, he stepped forward and, taking the lad by the hand, said: “I will do this in accordance with my Father’s will and in honor of living faith. My son, arise! Come out of him, disobedient spirit, and go not back into him.” And placing the hand of the lad in the hand of the father, Jesus said: “Go your way. The Father has granted the desire of your soul.” And all who were present, even the enemies of Jesus, were astonished at what they saw.

Jairus was, of course, terribly impatient of this delay in reaching his home; so they now hastened on at quickened pace. Even before they entered the ruler’s yard, one of his servants came out, saying: “Trouble not the Master; your daughter is dead.” But Jesus seemed not to heed the servant’s words, for, taking with him Peter, James, and John, he turned and said to the grief-stricken father: “Fear not; only believe.” When he entered the house, he found the flute-players already there with the mourners, who were making an unseemly tumult; already were the relatives engaged in weeping and wailing. And when he had put all the mourners out of the room, he went in with the father and mother and his three apostles. He had told the mourners that the damsel was not dead, but they laughed him to scorn. Jesus now turned to the mother, saying: “Your daughter is not dead; she is only asleep.” And when the house had quieted down, Jesus, going up to where the child lay, took her by the hand and said, “Daughter, I say to you, awake and arise!” And when the girl heard these words, she immediately rose up and walked across the room. And presently, after she had recovered from her daze, Jesus directed that they should give her something to eat, for she had been a long time without food.

It was never revealed to us just what occurred in these cases of spontaneous or unconscious healing. The Master never explained to his apostles how these healings were effected, other than that on several occasions he merely said, “I perceive that power has gone forth from me.” On one occasion he remarked when touched by an ailing child, “I perceive that life has gone forth from me.”

As the Samaritan remained kneeling at Jesus’ feet, the Master, looking about at the twelve, especially at Simon Zelotes, said: “Were not ten cleansed? Where, then, are the other nine, the Jews? Only one, this alien, has returned to give glory to God.” And then he said to the Samaritan, “Arise and go your way; your faith has made you whole.”