A Commentary From The Gospel Story by R. Cox
Mark 5: 25 — 34
The woman with an embarrassing haemorrhage (equivalent to chronic menstruation) is a distraction from the main story. Jewish medical literature gives a sizeable list of prescriptions for this disease: they range from superstition, such as carrying the ashes of an ostrich egg in a linen bag, to rare and expensive drugs. The woman had tried them all. St. Luke, himself a doctor, omits this sarcastic comment on the physicians. It was not, however, through embarrassment that she approached so stealthily; Jewish law made her 'unclean.' Had her condition been known, the crowd would have driven her away like a leper (Leviticus 15: 25 — 30). Our Lord's seeming lack of consideration for her feelings, in making her case public is simply explained: it was an important lesson for his disciples, the crowd, and the woman, who must be shown that faith, not a furtive touch, had won the cure from him.
The Mosaic law (Numbers 15: 38 — 39) prescribed four tassels to be hung on blue cords from the bottom hem of the cloak, as a reminder of God's law. Jesus observed this, as a loyal Jew. Even in the midst of great miracles, his human nature is clearly shown; he is pushed about and jostled by the crowd; Peter has no hesitation in giving him some good advice; and he has to ask questions to find out who has benefited by this miracle. Of course he knew what miracle he had worked, and who had been healed, because it would not have happened had he not willed it. But he had not seen the woman with his human eyes; and he followed the common rule of human nature in acquiring knowledge from experience by the use of his senses and reason. Had the woman disappeared in the crowd he would not have known, by natural knowledge, who she was.
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