◄ Luke 8:44 ►
She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
Study Bible
She came up behind Jesus

This phrase highlights the woman's approach to Jesus, indicating her humility and desperation. In the cultural context of first-century Judea, a woman suffering from a bleeding disorder would have been considered ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15:25-27). Her decision to come up behind Jesus suggests her awareness of societal norms and her desire to avoid drawing attention to herself. This act of coming from behind also signifies her faith, as she believed that even a secretive touch could heal her.

Mat 9:20-21 Suddenly a woman who had suffered from bleeding…
Mrk 5:27-28 When the woman heard about Jesus, she came up…
Mat 14:35-36 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus,…

and touched the fringe of His cloak,

The "fringe" refers to the tassels or tzitzit that Jewish men wore on the corners of their garments, as commanded in Numbers 15:38-39 and Deuteronomy 22:12. These tassels were a reminder to follow God's commandments. By touching the fringe, the woman was not only reaching out for physical healing but also symbolically connecting with the divine authority and holiness that Jesus represented. This act can be seen as an acknowledgment of Jesus' fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.

Mrk 6:56 And wherever He went—villages and towns and countrysides…
Num 15:37-41 And the LORD said to Moses,…
Deu 22:12 You are to make tassels on the four corners…

and immediately her bleeding stopped.

The immediate cessation of her bleeding underscores the miraculous nature of the healing. In the context of the Gospels, Jesus' miracles often serve as signs of His divine authority and the in-breaking of God's kingdom. This instantaneous healing contrasts with the woman's twelve years of suffering and failed medical treatments (as noted in parallel accounts like Mark 5:25-26). It demonstrates Jesus' power over physical ailments and His compassion for those marginalized by society. This miracle also prefigures the ultimate healing and restoration that Jesus offers through His death and resurrection.

Mrk 5:29 Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she sensed in her body…
Mat 9:22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take courage, daughter,”…
Lev 15:25-27 When a woman has a discharge of her blood for many days…

Persons / Places / Events
1. The Woman with the Issue of Blood
A woman suffering from a chronic bleeding condition for twelve years, which made her ceremonially unclean according to Jewish law.

2. Jesus
The central figure of the New Testament, the Son of God, who is performing miracles and teaching about the Kingdom of God.

3. The Crowd
A large group of people surrounding Jesus, making it difficult for the woman to approach Him directly.

4. The Fringe of His Cloak
Refers to the tassels (tzitzit) on the corners of a Jewish garment, which were worn as a reminder of the commandments.

5. The Healing Event
The miraculous healing that occurs when the woman touches Jesus' garment, demonstrating His divine power and compassion.
Teaching Points
Faith in Action
The woman's faith led her to take bold action despite societal and religious barriers. Her belief in Jesus' power was greater than her fear of public shame.

Jesus' Compassion
Jesus' response to the woman highlights His compassion and willingness to heal those who seek Him, regardless of their social status or condition.

The Power of Touch
The act of touching Jesus' garment symbolizes the personal connection and faith required to receive His healing power.

Breaking Barriers
The woman's account encourages believers to overcome obstacles and seek Jesus with determination, trusting in His ability to transform their lives.

Ceremonial Law vs. Grace
This event illustrates the transition from the Old Testament law to the grace and healing found in Christ, who fulfills the law.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does the woman's approach to Jesus teach us about the nature of faith and persistence in prayer?

2. How does understanding the cultural and religious context of the woman's condition enhance our appreciation of her faith and Jesus' response?

3. In what ways can we identify and overcome barriers in our own lives that prevent us from reaching out to Jesus?

4. How does this passage challenge us to show compassion and understanding to those who are marginalized or suffering in our communities?

5. Reflect on a time when you experienced a breakthrough in your faith journey. How can this account inspire you to continue seeking Jesus in difficult circumstances?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Leviticus 15:25-27
Provides background on the woman's condition and the social and religious implications of her being ceremonially unclean.

Matthew 9:20-22 and Mark 5:25-34
Parallel accounts of the same event, offering additional details and perspectives on the woman's faith and Jesus' response.

Numbers 15:38-39
Explains the significance of the tassels on the garment, which were meant to remind the Israelites of God's commandments.

Hebrews 11:6
Emphasizes the importance of faith, which is central to the woman's healing.
Sermons
A Group of MiraclesR.M. Edga Luke 8:22-56
Christ's Particular Sympathy and FriendshipH. Bushnell, D. D.Luke 8:43-48
Cured At LastC. H. Spurgeon.Luke 8:43-48
Faith RewardedT. M. Herbert, M. A.Luke 8:43-48
Glimpses of JesusW. Forsyth, M. A.Luke 8:43-48
Grasping the HemDr. Koenig's Life of Dr. Simpson.Luke 8:43-48
Life Behind and Life Before ChristR. P. Macmaster.Luke 8:43-48
Real Contact with Jesus: a Sacramental MeditationC. H. Spurgeon.Luke 8:43-48
She was not HidC. H. Spurgeon.Luke 8:43-48
The Cost of ServiceR. D. Hitchcock, D. D.Luke 8:43-48
The Earnest TouchE. H. Chapin, D. D.Luke 8:43-48
The HealerC. Stanford, D. D., A. M. Morgan.Luke 8:43-48
The Healing of VeronicaS. Cox, D. D., G. MacDonald.Luke 8:43-48
The Throng and the TouchBp. F. D. Huntington.Luke 8:43-48
The TouchC. H. Spurgeon.Luke 8:43-48
The Touch of FaithMethodist TimesLuke 8:43-48
The Woman Healed by a TouchPreachers' TreasuryLuke 8:43-48
The Woman Who TouchedT. Sherlock, B. A.Luke 8:43-48
Various TouchesW. H. Aitken, M. A.Luke 8:43-48
Virtue is Gone Out of MeJ. Champness.Luke 8:43-48
Who Touched Me?N. Adams, D. D.Luke 8:43-48
People
Chuza, Herod, Jair, Jairus, James, Jesus, Joanna, John, Mary, Peter, Susanna
Places
Galilee, Gerasa
Topics
Behind, Bleeding, Blood, Border, Ceased, Cloak, Close, Edge, Flow, Flowing, Flux, Fringe, Garment, Hem, Hemorrhage, Immediately, Instantly, Issue, Presently, Robe, Stanched, Stood, Stopped, Straight, Tassel, Touched
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Luke 8:44

     2351   Christ, miracles
     5144   cloak
     5145   clothing
     7462   tassel

Luke 8:40-55

     2012   Christ, authority

Luke 8:41-55

     2066   Christ, power of
     5194   touch

Luke 8:42-48

     6701   peace, search for

Luke 8:43-44

     5136   body
     5298   doctors
     9165   restoration

Luke 8:43-48

     2045   Christ, knowledge of
     5745   women
     8340   self-respect

Library
June 28 Evening
The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits.--I TIM. 4:1. Take heed therefore how ye hear.--Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.--Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 24 Morning
My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.--LUKE 8:21. Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren: saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.--In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.--Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.--Blessed are they …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

Seed among Thorns
'And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares, and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.'--Luke viii. 14. No sensible sower would cast his seed among growing thorn-bushes, and we must necessarily understand that the description in this verse is not meant to give us the picture of a field in which these were actually growing, but rather of one in which they had been grubbed up, and so preparation been made …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Christ to Jairus
'When Jesus heard it, He answered, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.' --LUKE viii. 60. The calm leisureliness of conscious power shines out very brilliantly from this story of the raising of Jairus's daughter. The father had come to Jesus, in an agony of impatience, and besought Him to heal his child, who lay 'at the point of death.' Not a moment was to be lost. Our Lord sets out with him, but on the road pauses to attend to another sufferer, the woman who laid her wasted …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Ministry of Women
'And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, 3. And Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto Him of their substance.' --LUKE viii. 2,3. The Evangelist Luke has preserved for us several incidents in our Lord's life in which women play a prominent part. It would not, I think, be difficult to bring that fact into connection with the main characteristics of his Gospel, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

One Seed and Diverse Soils
'And when much people were gathered together, and were come to Him out of every city, He spake by a parable: 5. A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. 6. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. 7. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 8. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

A Miracle Within a Miracle
'And a woman, having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44. Came behind Him, and touched the border of His garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. 45. And Jesus said, Who touched Me? When all denied, Peter, and they that were with Him, said, Master, the multitude throng Thee and press Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me? 46. And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched Me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Sower and the Seed.
"A sower went out to sow his seed."--ST. LUKE viii. 5. It is significant that the first of the Saviour's parables is the parable of the sower, that the first thing to which He likens His own work is that of the sower of seed, the first lesson He has to impress upon us by any kind of comparison is that the word of God is a seed sown in our hearts, a something which contains in it the germ of a new life. It is no less significant that He returns so often to this same kind of comparison for the purpose …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

Our Relations to the Departed
"She is not dead, but sleepeth." Luke viii.52 A Great peculiarity of the Christian religion is its transforming or transmuting power. I speak not now of the regeneration which accomplishes in the individual soul, but of the change it works upon things without. It applies the touchstone to every fact of existence, and exposes its real value. Looking through the lens of spiritual observation, it throws the realities of life into a reverse perspective from that which is seen by the sensual eye. Objects …
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns

Further Journeying About Galilee.
^C Luke VIII. 1-3. ^c 1 And it came to pass soon afterwards [ i. e.,. soon after his visit to the Pharisee], that he went about through cities and villages [thus making a thorough circuit of the region of Galilee], preaching and bringing the good tidings of the kingdom of God [John had preached repentance as a preparation for the kingdom; but Jesus now appears to have preached the kingdom itself, which was indeed to bring good tidings--Rom. xiv. 17 ], and with him the twelve [We here get a glimpse …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Ministry of Love, the Blasphemy of Hatred, and the Mistakes of Earthly Affection - the Return to Capernaum - Healing of the Demonised Dumb -
HOWEVER interesting and important to follow the steps of our Lord on His journey through Galilee, and to group in their order the notices of it in the Gospels, the task seems almost hopeless. In truth, since none of the Evangelists attempted - should we not say, ventured - to write a Life' of the Christ, any strictly historical arrangement lay outside their purpose. Their point of view was that of the internal, rather than the external development of this history. And so events, kindred in purpose, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

There are Some Things of this Sort Even of Our Saviour in the Gospel...
27. There are some things of this sort even of our Saviour in the Gospel, because the Lord of the Prophets deigned to be Himself also a Prophet. Such are those where, concerning the woman which had an issue of blood, He said, "Who touched Me?" [2431] and of Lazarus. "Where have ye laid him?" [2432] He asked, namely, as if not knowing that which in any wise He knew. And He did on this account feign that He knew not, that He might signify somewhat else by that His seeming ignorance: and since this …
St. Augustine—Against Lying

The Right to what I Consider a Normal Standard of Living
"Have we no right to eat and to drink?"--I Corinthians 9:4 The white-haired mission secretary looked at me quizzically. "Well," he said, "it's all in your point of view. We find that these days in the tropics people may look upon the missionary's American refrigerator as a normal and necessary thing; but the cheap print curtains hanging at his windows may be to them unjustifiable extravagance!" * * * * * My mind goes back to a simple missionary home in China, with a cheap …
Mabel Williamson—Have We No Rights?

In Troubles --
The king had before this time noticed a spot of immense military importance on the Seine between Rouen and Paris, the rock of Andelys. Indeed he had once tossed three Frenchmen from the rock. It was, or might be, the key to Normandy on the French side, and he feared lest Philip should seize upon it and use it against him. Consequently he pounced upon it, and began to fortify it at lavish expense. Archbishop Walter of Rouen, and late of Lincoln, in whose ecclesiastical patrimony it lay, was furious, …
Charles L. Marson—Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln

Faith a New and Comprehensive Sense.
…
John Newton—Olney Hymns

Sundry Sharp Reproofs
This doctrine draws up a charge against several sorts: 1 Those that think themselves good Christians, yet have not learned this art of holy mourning. Luther calls mourning a rare herb'. Men have tears to shed for other things, but have none to spare for their sins. There are many murmurers, but few mourners. Most are like the stony ground which lacked moisture' (Luke 8:6). We have many cry out of hard times, but they are not sensible of hard hearts. Hot and dry is the worst temper of the body. Sure …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Thankfulness for Mercies Received, a Necessary Duty
Numberless marks does man bear in his soul, that he is fallen and estranged from God; but nothing gives a greater proof thereof, than that backwardness, which every one finds within himself, to the duty of praise and thanksgiving. When God placed the first man in paradise, his soul no doubt was so filled with a sense of the riches of the divine love, that he was continually employing that breath of life, which the Almighty had not long before breathed into him, in blessing and magnifying that all-bountiful, …
George Whitefield—Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

The General Observations are These.
There are in these relations proper circumstances of time and place, and the names and characters of persons. Of the miracle on Jairus's daughter, the time and place are sufficiently specified by St. Mark and St. Luke. It was soon after his crossing the sea of Galilee, after Jesus had cured the men possessed with devils in the country of the Gergesenes, Mark v. 21. And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him, and he was nigh unto the sea. And behold …
Nathaniel Lardner—A Vindication of Three of Our Blessed Saviour's Miracles

R. W. Begins his Fifth Discourse, P. 1, 2. With Saying, that He is Now
to take into examination the three miracles of Jesus's raising the dead, viz. of Jairus's daughter, Matth. ix. Mark. v. Luke viii. of the widow of Naim's son, Luke vii. and of Lazarus, John xi: the literal stories of which, he says, he shall shew to consist of absurdities, improbabilities, and incredibilities, in order to the mystical interpretation of them. I have read over his examination of these miracles, and am still of opinion, that the histories of them are credible. I. I will therefore first …
Nathaniel Lardner—A Vindication of Three of Our Blessed Saviour's Miracles

The Second Miracle at Cana.
^D John IV. 46-54. ^d 46 He came therefore again [that is, in consequence of the welcome which awaited him] Unto Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine [see page 114]. And there was a certain nobleman [literally, "king's man:" a word which Josephus uses to designate a soldier, courtier, or officer of the king. He was doubtless an officer of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. That it was Chuzas (Luke viii. 3) or Manaen (Acts xiii. 1) is mere conjecture], whose son was sick at Capernaum. [The …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Ancient Versions of the Old Testament.
In the present chapter only those versions of the Old Testament are noticed which were made independently of the New. Versions of the whole Bible, made in the interest of Christianity, are considered in the following part. I. THE GREEK VERSION CALLED THE SEPTUAGINT. 1. This is worthy of special notice as the oldest existing version of the holy Scriptures, or any part of them, in any language; and also as the version which exerted a very large influence on the language and style of the New Testament; …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

General Remarks on the History of Missions in this Age.
THE operations of Christianity are always radically the same, because they flow from its essential character, and its relations to human nature; yet it makes some difference whether it is received amongst nations to whom it was previously quite unknown, either plunged in barbarism or endowed with a certain degree of civilization, proceeding from some other form of religion, or whether it attaches itself to an already existing Christian tradition. In the latter case, it will indeed have to combat …
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

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