“Master, the multitude throng Thee and press Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me?” It is Peter and those with him who ask the question.
Jesus is on His way to Jairus’s house, a house that is darkened with sorrow, for Jairus’s little daughter, his only daughter, is dying. He has come to Jesus in his distress, and falling down at His feet he has begged Him to come and heal her. “My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay Thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.” And Jesus went with him, and so did His disciples and much people.
Among the crowd was a poor suffering woman; she had been ill for years, not with the same sort of illness as Jairus’s daughter, for her sickness had not made her die; she had gone on from year to year, never feeling well, always suffering. At first she had hoped to get better, and had been to one doctor after another till all her money had gone in doctor’s fees, and yet she was no better, but rather grew worse. But as she went along in the crowd that day, hope sprang up once more, hope that got stronger and stronger, because it was founded on faith, faith in Jesus.
“If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be [healed],” she said to herself, and coming up behind Him, she put out her hand and touched the hem of His garment.
At once she felt herself well, not better only, but well, cured of her plague. And then she heard Jesus asking, “Who touched Me?”
All denied, and Peter and the others were surprised that Jesus should ask such a question when all around Him the people were crowding and pressing. But Jesus did not mean that kind of touching, it was the touch of faith He spoke of, the touch that had drawn healing from Himself. He said, “Somebody hath touched Me; for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me.”
“And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before Him, she declared unto Him before all the people for what cause she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately.”
Why should she tremble? Ah! she did not know the heart of Jesus; she knew something of His power to heal her body, and if He had allowed her to slip away hidden in the crowd, she might never have learned any more than that. She might never have known that the One who healed her loved her. It took a lot of courage to tell Him why she had touched Him, and that, too, in front of all those people, but what a reward she got when she heard the words He said to her, “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.”
We do not know her name; she was only one poor suffering woman in a crowd, but she had faith in Jesus; she touched the hem of His garment and she was healed, she confessed to Him, and received comfort, assurance and peace.
And all the time Peter and the others were looking on, listening, wondering and learning.