Mark 5:34: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
In this week’s gospel lesson there is a mini-story inserted into the dramatic telling of the daughter of Jairus, who is near death. A woman who suffered for far two long with an illness approaches Jesus; touches him; and is healed. There is a not-so-casual reference to the failure of “many physicians” who apparently made the situation worse; how many of us can relate to that!
The suffering woman is instantly healed when she touches only Jesus’ clothing. It’s not her touch that saves her---because the word “well” can also be understood as “saved”---but rather it is her faith. You see, we can only come to Jesus with empty hands---nothing we do can change God’s mind about the love God has for all of God’s creatures---only an open heart on our part, which receives the blessings/grace/mercy/salvation of God as a gift. We are called to trust that the One God has sent has power over life and death, and it is this trust that is the healed woman’s faith---which we are called to have.