I am working my way through Mark 5. I am teaching the last of the vignettes the chapter contains, Jairus’ daughter, but I confess - that’s not my favorite.

My favorite is the woman “with the issue of blood,” as she is known in polite Christian circles. A bleeding woman. Never fun, never tidy, never comfortable…but this woman had been bleeding for twelve years. Just let that sink in. The Scripture contains several significant details about this woman -

she had endured much,
she had spent all,
she had not been helped,
she had actually gotten worse.

I feel her pain like a low grade fever, just under the threshold of being life threatening but slowly draining her of vitality and hope. When you suffer, society likes you to be quick about it. Long term, chronic, slow moving? We don’t have time for that.

Twelve years is a long time to be sick.
It’s a long time to be “unclean.”
It’s a long time to wait for your miracle.
It’s a long time to hold out hope that something will change.
In the span of twelve years, you can move from girl to woman, young to old, fertile to infertile, vivacious to wilted.

This woman, though, is remarkable. With nothing left but her tenacity, she hears about Jesus. He’s in town. He’s walking from the shore to a man named Jairus’ house. Jairus has a little girl who is dying. She needs Jesus. Her case is worthy of His time, His attention. She is on the top of the priority list.

The bleeding woman understood this, because she decided not to bother Jesus. She didn’t approach Him, didn’t cry out, didn’t seek His attention.
She thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.”

So she took advantage of the crowd, the noise, the hustle and bustle that day and she reached through and made contact.

And what happened next makes my eyes fill with tears and my heart break open. Maybe there’s still time for me, too, to receive from Him what I need but fear verbalizing.