Snapshots of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel #6

JESUS: THE PERCEPTIVE ONE

Mark 5:25-34

I tend to think of Mark as a photojournalist of words. In photography a photojournalist is a unique form of journalism that employs images in order to tell the story. Photojournalists like Mark are storytellers. It works in a rigid ethical framework to capture an event that is honest and impartial in telling the story in a powerful way. It gives visual narratives and feature stories that help illuminate and clarify issues with images. Mark does it with words.

My favorite word image in Mark is that of the woman with a hemorrhage for 12 years. What does this snapshot show us:

• Desperation. She had tried everything to no avail. The Talmud had at least 11 cures for hemorrhaging.[1] These included such treatments as various tonics, carrying an ostrich egg, and carrying a barley corn found in the dung of a she-ass. Nothing worked for her. She visited doctor after doctor, treatment after treatment and nothing worked. In fact her health was deteriorating. “Her problem extended beyond the reach of medical skills!”[2] In spite of her physical weakness, and her being ceremonial uncleanness she made her way through the crowd.
• Hope of Faith. Mark shows that the words of Jesus are the source of this hope. His words spurred her hope and faith. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). She exercised her hope in an act of faith. She also expressed her faith by saying to herself over and over again, [3] “If I just touch His garments, I will get well” (Mark 5:28).
• The transforming touch. We are told two facts about the touch of the hem: (1) An instant cure. The blood immediately dried and she was healed (Mark 5:29). (2) He perceived the touch. He felt the transforming power leave his body. While there is no question that Jesus knew who touched him, he still makes the inquiry. He saw the woman and gave her the opportunity to confess. This was the confession of acknowledgement and worship. Notice that Jesus tells her that it was not the touch that healed her, but her faith made her well. Lane tells us:

It was the grasp of her faith rather that her hand that had secured the healing she sought. Here touch had brought together two elements—faith and Jesus—and that had made it effective. Power had gone forth from Jesus to the woman for the precise reason that she sought healing from Him. The woman’s faith that Jesus could make her well expressed an appropriate decision with respect to his person.[4]

She can go in peace. The exercise of faith in Him brings peace (cf. Rom. 5:1).

---

[1]  William Barclay, DBS: MARK, [Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1975], 129.

[2]  D. Edmond Hiebert, THE GOSPEL OF MARK, [Bob Jones University Press, Greenville SC, 1994], 142.

[3]  Imperfect tense indicating repeated action.

[4]  William Lane, NICNT: MARK, [Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1974], 193-194.