I love some of the names of the churches I have visited in
the Masaka Region of Uganda. Names that
speak to a Biblical truth, like People of the Way Church, Victory Church, and
Jesus Loves You Church. One of my
favorites is “What Doctors Cannot Do Jesus Can Church.” It’s kind of a long name, but it’s clever,
and speaks to the truth of the passage before us.
The account of the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage is
sandwiched between the report of Jairus’s daughter’s illness and Jesus’ raising
of her to life. The woman suffered with
some sort of 12 year-long chronic bleeding problem. We are not given the exact cause or nature of
the bleeding, but one would suppose that it was both physically debilitating
and emotionally embarrassing. Beyond
that, according to OT Law, it also caused her to be considered “unclean”
(Leviticus 12:3-8; 15:19-27). She would
not have been allowed to go to the synagogue or temple. Anyone she touched would have been deemed
unclean. She had been an outcast for 12
years. One can hardly imagine how
desperate she must have been for help.
Apparently she tried everything she could. She “had suffered much under many physicians”
(Mark 5:26). Given the state of medical
expertise in those days it is likely that the many physicians did more harm
than good. She “had spent all that she
had, and was no better but rather grew worse” (Mark 5:26). In her desperation to be healed she had
pursued every possibility and exhausted all her resources.
But “she heard the reports about Jesus” (Mark 5:27). She had no doubt heard of how others had been
healed. A flicker of hope gave rise to a
plan born out of her desperation. She
thought, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well” (Mark 5:28). Her plan was not without obstacles. She was not accustomed to touching or being
touched, she would encounter both in making her way through the crowd. She was unclean, others would be rendered
unclean in the process. More than that,
what would Jesus say were He to know that an unclean woman touched His
garments? So the goal was to touch Him
serendipitously.
All went according to plan, she “touched his garment” and
“immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was
healed of her disease” (Mark 5:27,29).
But Jesus perceived that power had gone out from Him. He “turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who
touched my garments’ (Mark 5:30)?” The
woman heard him. “Knowing what had
happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told
him the whole truth” (Mark 4:33). She
trembled in fear wondering about his response—would he rebuke her? Would he undo what had been done? How precious then must have been His reply,
“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your
disease” (Mark 5:34). By faith in Jesus
she was made well. In so doing she
marked out a path for other desperate souls to follow.
Jesus healed many of all kinds of physical afflictions and
those healings spoke to the truth of who He is—“He is the Christ, the Son of
God” (John 20:31). He came not just to
heal broken bodies, but to give life to dead souls (Cf. John 3:16, 10:10). He is the only one who is able to do
that. As the hymn says, “There’s not a
friend like the lowly Jesus; No not one!
No not one! None else can heal
all our souls diseases; No not one! No
not one!”
I was walking down a road not far from “What Doctors Cannot
Do Jesus Can Do Church,” when a strange looking car approached, driving fast
along the narrow dirt road. Music was
blaring from the huge loudspeaker that was mounted on its top. I turned to my friend Paul and asked him what
the car was doing. He told me that it
was a man driving from house to house in order to sell a medical tonic that he
touted as being able to impart health and healing. And as Paul was speaking the car stopped at a
house and a transaction was made. Snake
oil salesmen still exist. But for
unclean, desperate sinners there is only One place to go. Jesus heals from “all our soul’s diseases”
with power and compassion. He can do
what doctors cannot, He can cause lost sinners to be born again to a living
hope (Cf. 1 Peter 1:3)!
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