Luke 8:40-48 The Hem of His Garment
Good morning! We are back in the Gospel of Luke this morning, chapter eight, verses 40-48, page 866 in the pew Bibles.
I’d like to say thank you to Nate for bringing the Word last Sunday and hopefully enriching your understanding of the works of CS Lewis. I love to look for the gospel symbolized in books and movies, it’s a lot of fun and can deepen our experiences and entertainment.
In Luke’s Gospel account in chapter eight Jesus performs two miracles that kind of overlap but we are going to examine them one at a time, first the healing of the woman with the discharge of blood and next time the raising of Jairus’ daughter.
So let’s look to the text and look to the Lord.
40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” Let’s pray.
So let’s remember from two weeks ago where Jesus was coming from at the beginning of our text. He was coming back across the Sea of Galilee from the country of the Geresenes where he had freed a man from a whole legion of demons but was rejected by the people there and begged to leave their country. So Jesus left them and returned to Galilee where it appears there was a crowd waiting there on the beach for Him to return.
What a contrast, on one shore an angry mob that drove Jesus away and on the other a happy throng eagerly anticipating His return. No sooner had He stepped foot on shore a man named Jairus came to Him and told Him about his dying daughter.
Now, I don’t want to focus on Jairus and his situation at all but I think it bears mentioning him just to point out the contrast between him and the woman that Jesus is about to heal.
Jairus was the ruler of the local synagogue. This fact shows that he was a well known and well respected person in the community. He was the kind of person that the people in town would want Jesus to help. Nobody would question Jesus for agreeing to help this man and go to his house to see his sick daughter, and, in fact, they all went along with Him as He went.
Verse 42 says, As Jesus went, the people pressed around him.
These were clearly not New Englanders, we like our space. But this crowd was all squeezed together and pressed in to Jesus as they walked from the beach to Jairus’ house and that’s when our story takes a turn.
As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased.
Now this woman could not be more different than Jairus. Jairus being the ruler of the synagogue in town was way up on the religious ladder but this lady was at the bottom, not because of sin but because of blood.
The Levitical laws made any woman with an “issuance of blood” ceremonially unclean. You can read about that in Leviticus 15:19-22. Anything she touched, any chair she sat on, the bed she slept on, and anybody who even touched her would be ceremonially unclean.
This may not sound like a big deal to you but it was to her.
Twelve years of suffering, not just with a physical ailment and the problems that go with that but twelve years of social separation. This poor lady had spent all she had on doctors and medicines trying to be healed and only got worse. She was sick, and poor, and alone.
Defiled, destitute, discouraged, and desperate, and then along comes Jesus.
What’s interesting to me is the quality of this woman’s faith.
In Matthew’s account, in Matthew 9:21, he records that woman thought to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.”
This woman’s faith is only half a notch above superstition. Her understanding of Jesus was that He was a powerful healer. He had healed other people in their synagogue already and was on His way to help another and, “If I could just touch the hem of His garment, I’ll be healed.”
And even with her mixed up ideas of faith and superstition she joins the crowd pressing in on Jesus and gets her chance.
44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?”
Honestly, if we were there I think we’d probably say the same thing as Peter did in response to Jesus.
45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!”
This whole thing seems ridiculous. This whole crowd of people pressed in around Jesus as He’s walking along, all squeezed together and Jesus asks, “who touched me?” The best part is when everybody says, “It wasn’t me!” They all deny touching Him even though everybody was touching Him.
46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.”
And then our defiled, destitute, discouraged, and desperate lady comes forward.
47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
The difference between her touch of the Savior and everybody else’s was her motivation. Everybody else was touching Jesus just because the crowd was all squished together but this lady, in her imperfect mix of faith and superstition, intentionally reached out for the hem of His garment.
And she was healed, she was healed completely. Not because she understood fully, but because she trusted in Jesus.
John Calvin wrote, “God deals kindly and gently with His people, accepts their faith, though imperfect and weak, and does not lay charge to their faults and imperfections with which it is connected.”
So why did Jesus ask, “Who touched me?”
It wasn’t because he didn’t know, it wasn’t because he was ignorant. I think there were two reasons Jesus asked who touched Him.
The first is that Jesus knew who touched Him and what had happened, and the woman knew that she touched Him and what had happened, but nobody else knew what had happened.
Jesus calls this lady out to tell her story. Verse 47 says, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed.
Think about that for a second. This lady had suffered for twelve years for this moment. All the pain and heartache and loneliness, for all those years led her right here to Jesus, to this moment, a moment that would not only change her life but would define the rest of her life on earth. Telling the story of how she suffered and how Jesus healed her just by touching the hem of His garment would be the song she would sing into eternity!
The second reason I think that Jesus asked who touched Him was a rebuke to the crowd.
Who was touching Jesus? According to Peter, everybody was! But not everybody experienced the blessing that this lady did.
Warren Wiersbe wrote, “You can be a part of the crowd and never get any blessing from being near Jesus.” I think there’s a warning there for us as well. So don’t just settle for just being near Jesus or going to church or doing Jesus-y things, reach out for Him in faith even if it’s only for the hem of His garment.
And when he changes your life tell people the story, share your testimony, nobody can argue with a changed life.
Amen.
