Mark 5:27

“When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.”– Mark 5:27

This passage tells us about a woman who had been suffering with a bleeding condition for twelve long years. She had gone from doctor to doctor, searching for relief, hoping that someone could finally heal her. But nothing worked. Every attempt left her worse than before, and eventually she lost everything she had trying to get better.

She heard that Jesus was passing by. Absolutely this woman heard the stories how Jesus healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, made the lame walk, fed thousands, and set people free from evil spirits. And right at that moment, Jesus was on His way to heal the daughter of a synagogue ruler. Hearing all this stirred something deep within her. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and as she’s aware to what Jesus could done, faith began to rise in her heart. She became fully convinced that if Jesus could do all those miracles for others, He could heal her too. So she said to herself, “If I can just touch His clothes, I know I’ll be made well.”

I am going to focus on this woman’s behavior. As the Scripture says, “When she heard about Jesus…” she didn’t come directly in front of Him to ask for healing. Instead, she approached from behind, quietly and carefully, hoping only to touch the hem of His garment. And today, many women carry that same kind of belief that they are somehow less seen, less valued, or less welcome in the presence of God. Some have even been taught false ideas that Jesus is “anti-woman,” or that God only cares about men.

Yet look at how Jesus addressed the situation and corrected this woman’s false beliefs. At that very moment, He was on His way to help a respected ruler—a man with position and authority. If God’s priority were only men, and if women were less important in His sight, then Jesus would never have stopped. He would not have paused everything, looked for her, and halted the entire crowd just to honor her faith and reveal His heart toward her.

But Jesus refused to let her stay hidden, afraid, or ashamed to come into His presence. She was God’s child. That’s why Jesus said to her, “Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well.” He wanted her to understand that she didn’t need to sneak into God’s presence. She was His daughter not a stranger, not someone pushed aside, and not someone unworthy of His attention.

She did not need to fear.

She did not need to hide.

She did not need to fight for a place in God’s heart because she already had one.

Jesus showed her that she was seen, valued, and worthy of His full attention. Notice that He called her “daughter.” In that one word, Jesus restored the identity the enemy had stolen from her.

To understand why she acted the way she did, why she hid? why she approached Jesus from behind? We have to go back to what the Levitical law says about women with prolonged bleeding,

“‘If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, other than at the time of her customary impurity, or if it runs beyond her usual time of impurity, all the days of her unclean discharge shall be as the days of her customary impurity. She shall be unclean. Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her impurity; and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity. Whoever touches those things shall be unclean; he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.” Leviticus‬ ‭15:25-27‬ ‭

Through this law, we can understand why she acted the way she did. According to Leviticus, a woman who had a discharge of blood for many days was considered unclean, and anything she touched became unclean as well.
Anyone who touched her or anything that belonged to her was considered unclean . In her mind, if she touched Jesus, she thought He would become unclean as well. Because of that, we can understand why this woman came into Jesus’ presence with fear and trembling. She didn’t dare to approach Jesus boldly. She only reached for the hem of His garment, just enough to touch Him without being seen. She didn’t want Jesus to be defiled by her condition. She didn’t want to bring shame to Him or draw any attention to herself. For twelve long years she had lived with people avoiding her, stepping away, distancing themselves so they wouldn’t be made unclean.

Yet the moment she touched Jesus, everything changed. Scripture says, “Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up” (Mark 5:29). Instead of her uncleanness flowing into Jesus, power flowed out of Jesus into her (Mark 5:30). Her impurity did not touch Him, His purity touched her. Her sickness didn’t reach Him, His healing power overcame her sickness.

Jesus took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. He carried our sins in His own body on the tree. And by His stripes we are healed 

Her condition made her live separated, avoided, and treated like an outcast—just our iniquities have separated us from our God (Isaiah 59:2) reminding us that like her, we were spiritually cut off from God’s presence. What a powerful picture of how sin affects our relationship with our heavenly Father. We all have sinned before God (Romans 3:23) and that the verdict of our sin is death (Romans 6:23). Before Jesus came, none of us had the power to save ourselves. The law judged us guilty and sin separated us from God. Her situation speaks for all of us—we were unclean, hopeless, and unable to heal or save ourselves.

This is also why so many women today struggle with identity and their worth. The enemy fills their minds with lies, deceiving them until they don’t even realize their true identity has been stolen. Many women seek healing, value, and affirmation from the world, but the world only leaves them worse just like this woman who “spent all she had and was no better, but rather grew worse” (Mark 5:26).

But this woman heard about Jesus and the Jesus she heard about is the same Jesus who will stop everything just to restore you and bring you back into your true identity. To Jesus, you are worthy! Even while the ruler’s daughter was dying, Jesus did not ignore her or treat her as less important. Jesus does not rush past people the way the world does. Jesus is God in the flesh. He is not bound by time. He is not limited by circumstances. Death has no power over Him. And if Jesus stopped for her, He will gladly stop for you as well.

So let me ask you, Have you heard about Jesus like she did?

Come to Jesus! not from behind, not hiding, and not feeling unworthy. Because Jesus died for you and for me, so we can approach God with confidence through His blood. Jesus defeated sin and death, the very things that separated us from God. Jesus reconciled us to the Father. Now we have full access to Jesus not only to the hem of His clothes, but to His entire being. You don’t need to sneak your way into His presence, because He already sent His presence to dwell with you through His Spirit. Jesus restored our position to the Father, and He loves you. Isn’t He the One who died for you so that you could be with Him in His Kingdom?