Mark 5:28 and 29 say, “For she said, If I may touch even His garments, I shall be healed. And immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she knew in her body that she was cured from the plague.” The Greek word translated “healed” in verse 28 may also be rendered “made whole.” Literally, the word means saved. Sickness is an oppression exercised by the Devil over the sick. Hence, the Slave-Savior’s healing was a saving service rendered to the suffering victim, so that she might enjoy relief and release from the evil one’s oppression (Acts 10:38).
Because a crowd was pressing upon the Slave-Savior, it was difficult for the genuine seekers to touch Him. Nevertheless, this woman found a way to touch Him, and when she did so, she was healed. “And immediately, Jesus realizing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, Who touched My garments?” (v. 30). The Lord had the inner sense that His virtue, His power, had gone out of Him and had been transfused into someone else. This was the reason He asked who it was that had touched His garments. The disciples, being natural and seeing the crowd pressing upon Him, said, “You see the crowd pressing upon You, and You say, Who touched Me?” (v. 31). The pressing crowd received nothing from the Savior, but the woman who touched Him was healed.
The Slave-Savior was God incarnated to be a man (John 1:1, 14). His garments signify His perfect behavior in His humanity, His human virtuous perfection. To touch His garments was actually to touch the Lord Himself in His humanity, in whom God was embodied (Col. 2:9). By such a touch His divine power was transfused into the touching one through the perfection of His humanity and became her healing. God, who dwells in unapproachable light, became touchable in Him through His humanity for her salvation and enjoyment. This was the service of the Slave-Savior as the Slave of God to the sick sinner.
In verse 34 the Lord said to the woman, “Daughter, your faith has healed you; go in peace and be well from your plague.” The Slave-Savior’s power expressed His deity in healing (v. 30). His word with love and kindness expressed His humanity in sympathy. In this case His deity and His humanity were again merged for His expression.
What does this woman’s disease signify? Her disease signifies the leaking out of life. The flow of blood signifies the leaking out of the life essence. From the time of man’s fall, every descendant of Adam has been sick in this way. As fallen sinners, we all are plagued by the leaking out of our life essence. Because of this plague, every descendant of Adam, every fallen sinner, is dying day by day. As soon as a human being is born, he begins to die. What does it mean to die? To die is to experience the leaking out of the essence of life. If you consider today’s society, you will realize that with every sinful person there is the illness of the leaking out of the life essence.
In 4:35—5:43 we have three things: the subduing of rebellion, the casting out of the demons and the clearing up of the unclean industry of hog raising, and the healing of the woman with the flow of blood. These three matters portray the situation of human society. First, among human beings there is the “stormy sea” of rebellion. In society there is not a peaceful environment. Instead, there is one storm after another. Furthermore, in society the real situation is one of demon possession and “hog raising.” In every country people are engaged in some form of unclean industry for the purpose of making a living. The whole world is involved in the industry of hog raising because the world is under the control of legions of possessing demons. In addition, all fallen people are dying; that is, they are suffering from the leaking out of the life essence. These certainly are characteristics of today’s human society: rebellion, demon possession with hog raising, and the leaking out of life. This is the reason that we are burdened to go out to preach the gospel. We need the Lord Jesus to come in to subdue the rebellion, to cast out the demons and clear away the hog-raising industry, and to heal the plague of the leaking out of life.
We have seen that the record in 5:21-43 merges the case of the woman with the flow of blood with that of the ruler’s daughter. This indicates that these two cases portray the situation of one person. We may say that the girl was born in the woman’s death-sickness. This is also the situation of every human being. We all were born in a death-sickness; we all were born to die. According to the record here, when this death-sickness reaches its peak, we die, just as the girl died. The girl was born in the woman’s sickness and died in that sickness. But the Slave-Savior came to heal that death-sickness. When the sickness was healed, the girl was revived. This indicates that the woman’s healing was the girl’s reviving.
The healing of the woman and the raising up of the girl are a picture of our experience in receiving the gospel. When the gospel came to us, we heard it, we received it, and we were healed of the disease of the leaking out of the life essence. Then after we were healed, we were revived and enlivened. We were born in a death-sickness, but through receiving the gospel we have been healed and made alive.
In 4:35—5:43 we have a demonstration of the kingdom. In this demonstration of the kingdom we see the subduing of rebellion, the casting out of the legion of demons, the clearing up of the unclean industry, the healing of the death-sickness, and the enlivening of the dead one. This means that in 4:35—5:43 rebellion is subdued, demons are cast out, the hog-raising industry is cleared up, the death-sickness is healed, and the dead person is revived. This is the kingdom of God. Where this kingdom is, there cannot be rebellion, demons, hog raising, or death-sickness. Instead, both the old and the young are healed and made alive. This is the kingdom, this is the gospel, and this is also our experience in the church life.
Every human being has the problems of rebellion, demons, hog-raising industry, sickness, and death. These things are found in human society and in every individual. But when the Lord Jesus comes as the seed of the kingdom, all these problems are solved. Then the kingdom of God is here.
We are glad to testify that the Lord Jesus has dealt with the rebellion, with the “stormy sea,” in our environment. Now we have a free course to go on with Him. Moreover, once we were possessed by demons and involved with unclean industry. But the demons have been cast out and the hog-raising industry has been cleared up. We can also testify that we have been healed and enlivened, and now we are in the church life, in the kingdom. How we enjoy the gospel service of our Slave-Savior!