Women Of The Bible- The Woman With The Issue Of Blood

For August's edition of my "Women Of The Bible" series, I decided to take a closer look at the unnamed woman we read about in Mark 5 who had an ongoing issue of blood. This is a beautiful interaction we see between our gentle Saviour and a dear lady who had been suffering terribly as a result of this condition.

I pray these verses and points for reflection (which will be in the second video) can encourage us to come to our loving Saviour for all our healing needs. He truly is Jehovah Rapha, our Great Physician.

Women Of The Bible- The Woman With The Issue Of Blood

Mark 5:25-34
“Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.  For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.  And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”
But His disciples said to Him,
“You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”
And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

Women of the Bible, one worthy of remark
Is mentioned in the Gospels penned by Matthew, Luke and Mark.
To read about this woman’s plight, it brings one close to tears.
Afflicted by a flow of blood, she’d suffered twelve long years.

Cut off from society and all that she had known,
It breaks the heart to picture her, exhausted and alone.
Shunned and isolated, we never learn her name,
Yet living with such stigma, we can visualise her pain.

Reduced in mind and body by this devastating curse,
The so-called “healers” of the day had only made her worse.
Their rough and painful remedies had offered no relief,
Their methods never reaching to the issue underneath.

Resources now depleted and drained of any wealth,
These harsh procedures added to her pain of failing health.
And so she came in secret to receive her restoration.
As crowds pushed in, her faith reached out in silent desperation.

Instantly, this precious woman’s wellness was restored!
Immediately healed and cured by Jesus Christ, her Lord.
Freed from her affliction and all that it entailed,
Jesus had succeeded where every other failed!

He called her forth to testify and not to be berated.
Repairing more than just her health, He’d have her reinstated.
Meeting with her Saviour set her free from this condition.
He’s God of the impossible! Oh praise The Great Physician!


Exodus 15:26
“I am the Lord who heals you.”

Psalm 30:2
“O Lord my God, I cried out to You,
And You healed me.”

Psalm 103:1-4
“Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases, 
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies.”


Points For Reflection And Insight

I found the study of the woman with the affliction of blood to be both heartbreaking and uplifting for the soul. It’s so upsetting to picture the pain and distress this woman must have been in as a result of living with her condition for twelve long years.

To put things into context, a woman with a flow of blood, living in that time and culture was considered to be unclean. We can read about the rules surrounding this situation in Leviticus 15:19-31.

This law was put in place to help preserve the health and safety of God’s people. As necessary as these measures were, it saddens the heart to picture how lonely, tired and isolated this poor woman must have been.

Her suffering would have been on many levels, including physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. To have been losing blood for such a long time, she must have felt physically exhausted, drained and very weak indeed. Added to that was the emotional and mental upset of not being allowed to dwell with any family she may have had. It must have been devastating for her to be cut off from her family for years on end and prevented from hugging her husband, any children or grandchildren in her life.

She may even have been living with the stigma of adultery as sometimes this affliction was attributed to a woman having had an affair and so perhaps she had been forced to get a divorce as a result. She would have been unable to work, worship in the Synagogue or even be anywhere near others. Whatever the exact details of her life were, we know she had spent more than a decade living on the outskirts of society, shunned and unable to seek comfort and encouragement from a hug or embrace from a loved one. What a bleak picture for this poor soul.

Knowing that she would technically make the whole crowd of people around her ceremonially unclean, it’s understandable why this woman sought to approach Jesus in secret. The threat of an angry mob would be intimidating for even a strong, healthy person but this dear woman was so desperate that she felt it was worth the risk.

We go on to read that this lady desired to touch even just the hem of Jesus’ cloak, believing this would make her well. What we see here isn’t a degree of superstition in the woman. Rather, it’s a display of the faith she had in the Man who lived up to the robe He wore.

There was great significance in the robe of the Rabbi and we can read about this in the law of Moses, found in Numbers 15. In verse 38 of this chapter we read,

 “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners.”

The robe of a Jewish Rabbi would have strings that indicated the man’s status and position to the people. The blue border was also a symbol and a reminder to them that they were to be separated and holy. The colour blue is often used in Scripture as a representation of Heaven and so the blue hem of a Rabbi’s robe was a statement and reminder to all that this man ought to be holy and have a walk with God.

Many times in Scripture we see the significance of the hem of the robe coming in to play. For example, we read in 1 Samuel 24 about how David cut off the hem of King Saul’s robe when he was asleep in the caves of En Gedi. By cutting off the edge of Saul’s robe he was telling him that his authority and power was being removed. David acknowledged this power was appointed by God and so felt stricken with guilt afterwards but it clearly shows the significance found in the hem of the robe in that culture.

We also see this message displayed in the book of Ruth, chapter 3. In verse 9 we read about how Ruth asked Boaz to spread the corner of his cloak over her. Again the hem of Boaz’s cloak represented the status, power and authority he had and so this was a very clear request for Boaz to take Ruth as wife and cover her with his authority.

Another example of when we see this displayed in the Bible is in Isaiah 6:1. The verse reads,

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.”

These words from the Prophet Isaiah describe a vision he had of Jesus. The temple is a picture of Heaven and the fact that the train of His robe fills the temple shows that Jesus has absolute authority and power, filling the realms of Heaven.

Knowing the deep and important significance of the Rabbi’s robe, it’s clear to see why this distraught daughter in Mark 5 sought to lay hands on the robe of Jesus.

The amazing thing is, she must have seen something different in Jesus for her to want to reach out like this. All too often, the puffed up hearts of men trying to claim more and more status would lead to the blue hem of the robe getting bigger and bigger, almost to ridiculous levels at times. Sadly, many of the Pharisees and Rabbis of that day failed to live up to the significance of the blue border on their robes. Not so with Jesus.

For the first time, this woman saw a Man who actually lived up to the statement of that border. She saw a Man who truly was Holy and who encapsulated what the blue ribbon represented. Someone who was totally committed to God and who had absolute authority over the situation.

Perhaps she had listened to Him from afar and heard Him teach. Maybe she had heard about His miracles or seen Him heal others from a secluded distance. Unlike the physicians of the day who had made her worse and were more interested in her money, she could see this Man was cut from a different cloth.

By reaching out to touch the hem of Christ’s garment, she was showing that she believed in His power and wanted to come under His authority. As I said earlier, it wasn’t superstition that caused her to reach out like this, it was Jesus Himself who inspired the faith in her heart to rise up. This lady could see that He was unlike the others and so as the flesh of the bodies of people around them pressed in, her faith reached out to touch, knowing His authority could heal and change her life.

It’s certainly an amazing demonstration of how a close, faith-filled walk with God can inspire the faith in others to rise up. Faith inspires faith! Our faith can feed the faith in those around us and we must never underestimate the impact our walk with God can have on the people in our own lives.

Can you think of someone with real spiritual depth who has had a positive impact on your faith? Is there someone in your life whose connection and commitment to God has inspired your faith to grow? Has your faith ever been a source of strength or encouragement for someone else?

It might be a good idea to take some time today to pray and thank God for any faith-filled followers who have inspired us in our walk with Him. May we ask the Lord to help us continue to grow in our faith and also be the kind of people who inspire faith in others!

It’s also worth noting that what we see in this passage of Scripture is that faith works through love. Love is inspiring! We can demonstrate our love through the efforts we make to bless others. Whether it’s a hand-written letter to an old friend or a voice note to someone letting them know we’re thinking of them, it can make all the difference in a person’s day.

We can show others we love them by spending time with them, blessing them with a gift or doing something practical to help them out if they’re struggling physically. The possibilities are endless! May our demonstrations of love impact and inspire others to open their hearts to God as faith works through love.

This was the kind of thing that caught the woman’s attention with Jesus and caused her to reach out to Him. His powerful, physical demonstrations of love inspired her to trust Jesus as she sought to touch the hem of His garment. It wasn’t just the hem of any old garment or the garment of any Rabbi, it was the hem of His garment!

In truth, it wasn’t even the hem of Jesus’ robe that healed her, it was her faith in Him that healed her. There was nothing magical about it. Rather, it was a beautiful example of God’s healing through faith in Jesus.

Have you ever asked Jesus for healing and if so, did you receive it? Have you ever thought, “If only I could touch the cloak of Jesus, I would be healed too?” How does it make you feel to know that it wasn’t the cloak of Jesus that healed the woman but her faith in Him? Does it encourage you to know that the power that healed this woman is the same power that we have access to today?

At times I’ve heard the wrongful suggestion that if a person isn’t receiving healing, it’s because of their lack of faith. I personally think that’s a cruel thing to say to someone. As Christians, we’re not promised a life free from trials and illness and we will all go through pain and suffering in this life, no matter who we are. To heap condemnation onto a person who is already hurting is a very damaging thing to do.

We can’t presume to know what purposes God has for this season of testing and what He’s doing behind the scenes. Suggesting this person’s ongoing suffering is due to a lack of faith in them is like rubbing salt in the wound and very counter-productive indeed.

I think the best thing we can do for someone who is in pain and going through a time of difficulty is to seek to encourage and bolster them, not drag them further down. We can try to help them in both a spiritual and practical sense by covering that person in prayer and offering help physically, if that’s an option available to us. When someone is struggling, just helping them get some groceries or lending a compassionate ear can make the world of difference in their day. May we be sensitive to the suffering of others and seek to help, not hinder.

Undoubtedly though, it can be a very challenging thing to ask for healing and not receive it. Whether we’re asking for ourselves or asking on behalf of another, it can cause great confusion and upset when we know God can cure all sickness and illness but we don’t always see this come to pass.

So where do we go in our faith when we’ve asked God for healing and don’t yet see this prayer being answered? I would say this is when we need to ask God to help us recommit our souls to Him, knowing that He is still Messiah and our faithful Creator who sees the full picture. Some purposes for suffering will only be revealed and rewarded in Heaven and we have to trust those reasons to Jesus.

When healing doesn’t come in the time frame or way that we would like, this is when it’s imperative that we surrender our lives once again to the God who bought our life with His own. It can be a challenging but helpful thing to remember when in the difficult seasons that our lives don’t belong to us. They were purchased by the blood of Jesus and our present sufferings can be used to conform us into His image and ultimately bring glory to Him.

I know through my own painful experiences in life that these seasons can be used mightily by God to teach me of His goodness and faithfulness in ways that I would never have known otherwise. Trials can teach us about compassion and empathy and therefore equip us to comfort and support others when they go through difficulties of their own.

Times of suffering also act as a daily reminder as to where our strength truly comes from. There’s nothing like a thorn in the flesh to keep a person close to the Throne of God and so as harrowing as these times might be, there’s no doubting that there can be positive fruit produced through these painful seasons.

If we’re willing to seek God through our circumstances, He will provide us with the strength, grace and peace we need to face each day. Through His help, we can continue to bless and serve others, knowing that one day in Heaven, all will be revealed. Surrendering like this to the Lord isn’t necessarily easy but we know we serve a God who is good and who is worthy to be trusted.

Going back to the woman in Mark 5 however, there are some beautiful things we can take away from this picture. We observe the truth that Jesus can distinguish between the jostle of a curious mob and the agonised touch of a needy soul. We see the gentleness and goodness of His character as He calls this woman forward, not because He didn’t know who touched Him or in order to humiliate her. He knew exactly who had reached out to Him in faith and He wanted to not only heal her physically and spiritually but have her life made whole again by publicly cleansing her and reinstating her back into society.

Jesus gave this treasured woman the opportunity to come forward and let everyone know about the miracle that had happened to her. By calling her “daughter,” He wanted to confirm that her faith in Him had welcomed her into the family of God. He also wanted to reassure her that she hadn’t stolen a blessing from Him, it was a freely-given gift that she had received through her faith in the Messiah. I think the comment from Scottish Missionary, Robert Morrison summarises this moment beautifully. He said,

“It seemed cruel, but it was really kind. It sent her home with loftier thoughts of Him. She would never talk of the wonder of the tassel; she would always talk of the wonder of the Lord. Permitted to walk away without confession, she would have said exultantly, “I’ve found a cure.” Now the woman cried, “I’ve found a friend.””

It’s a heart-warming picture that also highlights the truth that no matter what reduced condition we come to Jesus in, when we reach out to Him in faith, He doesn’t become infected by us, we become cleansed by Him! It’s enough to bring tears to the eyes.

We also see in these verses that when we come to Jesus, we must fall before Him and tell Him the whole truth. We can’t leave anything out, we must be sincere and open before Him. We must be prepared to give a full account before our Saviour and not try to keep things hidden. There’s no point! He already knows.

It’s for our benefit that we confess openly before Jesus and this story really shows us that when we come to Him like this, He is ready and willing to extend love, mercy and grace to those in agony. The woman with the issue of blood teaches us the valuable lesson that our gracious Saviour is always ready to receive us and provide peace to the soul in turmoil. Praises to our Great Physician!