Summary
More Grace to Bestow
In Mark 5:24–34, a woman who had suffered hemorrhages for twelve years pressed through the crowd around Jesus. She had endured much under many physicians, spent everything she had, and was no better—indeed, she had grown worse. The medical counsel of the day was useless folklore: drink wine with an onion, carry the ashes of an ostrich egg in a linen bag in summer and a cotton bag in winter. Twelve years of that. Twelve years of bleeding and of the ceremonial uncleanness it carried under Leviticus 15—cut off from family, from friends, from the temple, from the synagogue. Distant. Separate. Alone.
When she heard about Jesus, she heard about the One who had healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law, cleansed lepers, restored paralytics, cast out demons. Faith stirred. Violating every rule that should have kept her out of crowds, she worked her way to him with one thought: "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." She touched the hem of his cloak, and immediately the bleeding stopped. She knew in her body she was healed.
Then comes a second "immediately"—Jesus, perceiving that power had gone out from him, turned and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" This is no question of ignorance. John 2:25 tells us Jesus knew what was in everyone; he knew exactly whom he had healed. The disciples, of course, were baffled—the crowd was pressing on him from every side. But Jesus locked his eyes on her and called her out. Why? Because “More Grace to Bestow” is exactly what was happening: he was not finished giving.
Consider what the public calling-out accomplished. Her healing was made known before witnesses, which meant restoration to family, to society, to the worshiping life of Israel. Her trembling fall before him—Jews of that day did not bow to anyone—became a public confession that this Jesus is King of kings. Her telling "the whole truth" became a witness others needed to hear, not least Jairus, who was standing right there with his dying daughter on his mind Mark 5:22–23. Imagine Jairus's heart as he heard her testimony of twelve hopeless years undone by a touch.
And then the tenderest grace of all: "Daughter." Family language. Intimate language. The language of a child of God. "Your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." The verb behind "made well" is sōzō—saved. Jesus is no longer speaking only of her body. He is speaking of faith in the Messiah who would go to the cross and rise again. The word translated "disease" literally means scourge or whip—the very thing the Lord himself would endure before Calvary, where he bore the scourging of our sin, shed his cleansing blood, and rose as the Father's validation that the sacrifice was accepted.
This is how the Lord still deals with his own. He sees you in the crowd. He knows your face and your story. He calls you out—not to embarrass, but to bestow more grace: to draw you to your knees in worship, to turn your worship into witness, to put your story on your lips so that the hurting who hear it are encouraged and changed. He names you son, daughter, claimed in the waters of Holy Baptism, given faith to grasp what the cross and empty tomb have won. And he keeps speaking peace over you, because there is always more grace to bestow.
Video citations
- “More Grace to Bestow” 2-13-22 — Welcome to your Bible's Please with me, too. The Gospel of Mark the 5th chapter, if you're using a Pew edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find that on page 34 for our study today, Mark the…