MH page 59

“If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole.” Matthew 9:21 . It was a poor woman who spoke these words—a woman who for twelve years had suffered from a disease that made her life a burden. She had spent all her means upon physicians and remedies, only to be pronounced incurable. But as she heard of the Great Healer, her hopes revived. She thought, “If only I could get near enough to speak to Him, I might be healed.”

A chronically ill woman sought healing from Jesus after exhausting all human remedies. This paragraph recounts the historical and biblical narrative of the woman with the issue of blood seeking Christ after exhausting physicians.

Christ was on His way to the home of Jairus, the Jewish rabbi who had entreated Him to come and heal his daughter. The heartbroken petition, “My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray Thee, come and lay Thy hands on her, that she may be healed” ( Mark 5:23 ), had touched the tender, sympathetic heart of Christ, and He at once set out with the ruler for his home.

Christ responded with compassion to a father pleading for his dying daughter. This paragraph narrates Christ's journey to heal Jairus's daughter driven by compassionate response to a heartfelt petition.

They advanced but slowly; for the crowd pressed Christ on every side. In making His way through the multitude, the Saviour came near to where the afflicted woman was standing. Again and again she had tried in vain to get near Him. Now her opportunity had come. She could see no way of speaking to Him. She would not seek to hinder His slow advance. But she had heard that healing came from a touch of His garments; and, fearful of losing her one chance for relief, she pressed forward, saying to herself, “If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole.”

Overcoming obstacles in a crowd, the suffering woman approached Jesus believing a touch of His garment would bring healing. This paragraph describes the physical movement and faith-filled determination of the woman within the pressing crowd.