A Diseased Woman Healed
C. Bradley, M. A. Mark 5:24-34 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.… The chief design of our Lord's miracles was to confirm His pretensions. But they were more than this. Benevolent, for the greater part in their character, they served to unfold the mercifulness of His nature. They also shadowed forth His mode of serving us. Viewed in this light there is wonderful variety in them. I. THE SAD CONDITION OF THIS WOMAN when she came to Christ for relief. Her malady was an inveterate one. We are all sick in our souls. There is a disease in us which has seized on the noblest part of us. It is weakening, polluting, and destroying our immortal spirits. II. THE STATE OF THIS WOMAN'S MIND in this sad condition. Had it been a despairing state, we could hardly have blamed her. One of the worst features in a penitent sinner's case, is frequently a tendency to despair. No sin so great as despair. Your case may be sad, yet not hopeless. There is a Physician you bare not yet tried, or have never tried aright. III. HER APPLICATION TO HIM. There is deep humility evident here, and great self abasement. Sin is a loathsome and shameful thing. The soul would hide itself from every eye. There is great faith: "I shall be whole" — not relieved. What exalted views she must have had of Jesus. He is no common Saviour. But her faith was not perfect. It settled only on one part of the Lord's character. She believed His power, but distrusted His goodness. This mixture of faith and unbelief is very common in every newly converted soul. If real faith be in us, its inferiority is overlooked. IV. THE CURE THIS SUFFERER RECEIVED. 1. It was immediate. This is always our Lord's mode of acting with one class of persons who come to Him — those who come for pardon — receive it at once. Those who come to have the power of sin subdued in them, are often kept waiting for the mercy they desire. Like the child of Jairus, the disease grows worse while seeking the remedy. But the help sought is found at last. 2. The cure of this woman was one of which she and our Lord were both conscious. You think perhaps, brethren, that it is a small thing with Christ whether you come to Him or not; you conceive that He on His lofty throne has not a look or thought for you; but if you are turning to Him with a broken heart for salvation, there is not an object in the universe He thinks of more than you, there is not a moment in which His eye is off you. Great as is His joy now, it will be greater still when you touch Him and are made whole. He will say to His angels, as He said to His disciples here, "Virtue is again gone out of Me. There is another sinner healed." And the woman, too, was aware of the cure which had been wrought in her; "She felt in her body that she was healed." Her recovery, however, did not produce in her at first the joyous feelings we might have anticipated. There was a mixture of feeling in her. She feared and trembled after she was healed, as many a pardoned sinner trembles when he has reason to rejoice; but healed she was, and she knew it. And it is not easy to conceive how anyone can be cured of the dreadful disease of sin, and yet remain long ignorant or doubtful about his cure. (C. Bradley, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. WEB: He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides.