Excerpt 3 from 40 Days of Healing: A Devotional (Day 16)

Matthew 9:22: “Daughter be encouraged, your faith has made you well.” 

Mark 5:34: “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, your suffering is over.”  

Luke 8:48: “Daughter, he said to her, “Your faith has made you well, go in peace.” 

Three gospels report the same event. The woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, going to doctor after doctor, giving all the money she had and still not getting better; an outcast, considered unclean in her community. She braved it all when she heard about Jesus. She did not waiver or think “maybe I can ask him” or “maybe he’ll consider healing me” or “it’s hopeless, why bother trying?” which I'm sure she had considered several times through the years.

But Jesus.

She heard about Jesus, the whispers through the streets about this man who could heal anything. Or maybe she had even heard those who had been healed shouting in the streets about him and how he miraculously healed them … 

Here, this woman knew in her heart of hearts that this was her chance; this was her one opportunity for true healing. She didn’t need to be in the forefront. She didn't ask anyone to go seek healing for her. She may have had to disguise herself, as many would have recognized her and knew her as that unclean woman. She had such faith in her heart, such a deep belief, that if she simply touched the fringe of Jesus’ robe, the most distant and smallest part of him, that she would be healed. 

At one point after she touched his robe, as recorded in Luke 8:46, Jesus remarked “Who touched me – I felt the healing power come out from me.” Maybe it was someone else, or a cluster of people at the same time; we’ll never know that as no one else came forward, but she did. This unnamed woman, unclean and bleeding for twelve years. She was both brave and humble enough to admit to Jesus that she thought “if only I can touch the fringe of his robe I will be healed” and it happened. 

…

In all three testimonies, Jesus calls her “Daughter.” Maybe if he had used her name, it wouldn’t have had the same effect. He referred to himself as Son of Man; demons called him the Son of God, and eventually Peter did too. He called her “Daughter.” Truly loved, truly seen. “Your faith has made you well, go in peace.” “Your suffering is over.” What a mixture of emotions. Seen. Healed. Called “Daughter.” Your suffering is over. Go in peace. Such love! Such caring!

He was not angry or upset that she had reached out in faith. In fact, it was so important that it was recorded three different times. She was rewarded for reaching out with faith and knowing in her heart of hearts that Jesus could do what no one else before him could do, what no experts could do, though they had tried. She reached out in faith and received the healing from Jesus. She stepped out of the crowds in faith. 

What would have happened if she had stayed silent? What if she thought “there are so many people here, I could stay silent and no one will know it was me,” but she didn’t. She couldn’t. She knew the miracle of healing she had just received, this blessing that had seeped out of Jesus. Although it’s likely that others also received healing at the same time, Jesus chose to acknowledge her in front of this great crowd. In front of everyone, he remarked on her faith, acknowledged her as daughter – not woman or bleeding person – but “Daughter.” And her story of faith, two thousand years later, keeps her in our hearts. She spent twelve difficult, lonely years, outcast and alone, and now she was “Daughter,” fully healed, acknowledged and seen. 

I often wonder what happened to her. Did she return to her old life, from before the bleeding began? Or did she become one of the many who travelled with Jesus, sharing his life, ministry and testimony with others? Or was it a combination? Was she one of the faithful women who stayed near Jesus, even as he was being led to the crucifixion? Regardless of what happened after, that one moment of her remarkable, unwavering, and heartfelt faith has been handed down to us for two thousand years. Many of the accounts of Jesus’ life have some differences. This account is almost word for word three times. “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” 

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