Bible Commentaries

The Human and the Divine

[An Analysis]

Mark 5:28

Apart from the general treatment which the incident invites, a practical turn may be given to the thought involved in this particular way of stating the case. The afflicted woman did not invoke the whole power of the Godhead; she said that a mere touch was enough. To her simple trust, God was close at hand. She believed that the divine element penetrated and vitalised the outward and visible covering, so much so that to touch the clothes was to touch God himself. The idea is that we need far less proof of God's existence and beneficence than we often demand. We may go too far. We may attempt too much. We seek to convince or silence the gainsayer by elaborate arguments respecting infinitude, immateriality, almightiness, and the like. Thus theology becomes a great intellectual effort. It strains men's thinking; it transcends and overwhelms all that is ordinary; it establishes itself in the secrecy of the clouds. There is something better than all this. God is accessible from a much lower point. He is nigh thee, O man; the shadow of his presence lies around thy whole life! Think not to lay a line upon the courses of his infinitude, or to gather into one thunderous note all the voices of his eternity. Do not strain thy poor strength or endanger thy feeble brain by long-continued and ambitious effort to find out God. Be simple in thy methods, be trustful in thy spirit. Pluck a spike of grass, a wild flower, a tender leaf of the spring—touch the hem of his garment, and thou shalt find health. There are great globes of fire; there are also little globes of water: begin with the latter,—thou wilt find God even in these frail crystal habitations.

Apply this thought (1) to spiritual existences. If I touch but a grain of sand, I find the Mighty One. Who made it? Who can destroy it? Who can send it away to some other world? If I touch only a bud, I touch the King's garment. Who can make one like it? Who can improve its beauty? Whose hand is cunning enough to add one charm to its shape or one tint to its colour? We need not dazzle the atheist's eyes with the light of other worlds; we can show him God's signature in every limb of his own body: in every hair of his own head. Apply this thought (2) to the scheme of spiritual providence. Limit the view to one life,—touch but the hem of the garment. Review your own life from infancy, through youth, along the tortuous paths of manifold experience, up to the vigour of full manhood. What of extrication from difficulties? What of unexpected turns and hair-breadth escapes? What of concessions yielded without argument, of helps rendered by unlikely hands? The theory of chance is a theory of difficulty, not to say a theory of absurdity. Apply this thought (3) to the processes of spiritual education. Some of us can never get beyond the hem of the garment. Meanwhile, it is enough. Others are admitted to high intercourse: they know the secret of the Lord: finding their way far beyond the limitation of the mere letter, they see the spiritual purpose of divine government, and enjoy the inexpressible communion of the Holy Ghost. It is possible that the former may have as true and as efficient a faith as the latter. May they not have even a stronger faith? Is it a great thing to see God in heavens rich with systems of suns? Shall they be praised for their faith who hear God in the thunder, or who say of the lightning, Lo! this is the eye of the Lord? It is a grander faith, surely, which can see God in a speck of dust, and touch him in the hem of a garment. This was Christ's measurement of faith. It was ever the simplicity rather than the Mark 5:28). "Literally, I shall be saved, i.e, made whole." It was natural that expositors of Holy Scripture should see in this woman a type of the Jewish Church, bleeding to death, and tortured by superstitious, inefficacious, tedious, and costly treatment.

"And straightway," etc. ( Mark 5:29). The immediate effect was the drying up of the source of her malady. This she felt inwardly, a sensation assuring her that the cure was complete. St. Mark gives details, such as St. Peter must have dwelt upon frequently, both for their significance and their resemblance to miraculous works wrought afterwards by himself in the name of Jesus. Cf. Acts 3:6-7; Acts 5:15; Acts 9:34, Acts 9:38.

"And Jesus... gone out of him" ( Mark 5:30). Or, "And immediately Jesus having perceived in himself (or recognised inwardly) that the virtue (literally, the power) had gone forth from him." This statement, taken from our Lord's own word ( Luke 8:46), throws some light on the nature of the miraculous effluence from the Person of our Saviour. It was physical in its operation—the woman felt the result in her body—but spiritual in its source and condition. Our Lord recognised the fact that the indwelling virtue had been drawn forth by an act of faith.

"And his disciples" ( Mark 5:31). St. Luke notices that St. Peter was, as usual, the spokesman. The question was natural, but interesting as proving that no mere bodily sensation called the attention of Jesus to what was done.

"But the woman" ( Mark 5:33). Each word indicates the inward struggle of the woman. She knew that what had been done in her was a result of her own Mark 5:34). A different word from that used in Acts 5:28, giving an assurance of restoration to perfect health, such as was still needed by the woman. This is recorded expressly by St. Mark alone, but it is implied by other words of our Lord in St. Matthew and St. Luke.