Touching The Cloak Of Jesus

Brothers and sisters, let us talk about hidden issues and shame today. This is one of the more sticky situations for people, when they have a problem lodged in their hearts, yet they cannot seem to share it, ask for prayers or reveal it in anyway because it is something we are embarrassed or too ashamed to let out in the open. In this kind of issues, we may have a problem on the outside, but it is the inner struggles that make it exceptionally miserable over time. This leads to a lot of unresolved guilt, accusations, sense of failure, the way we interact with people around us and developing doubts for God’s faithfulness and plans. Now, if we are in this plight, God wants to heal us. So today, let us look into this very relatable story.

In Mark 5:25-34 it says, “25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Now in these verses, we see a woman laden with the condition of bleeding and she has tried looking for medical solutions all over to no avail. She knew Jesus and that He was coming so she went ahead and secretly touched His cloak. Why didn’t she openly ask Jesus to heal her? Precisely because her condition was something she was ashamed to let others know. Many people may have came before Jesus, revealed their woes and receive healing. But for this lady, a request like that is very hard. 

Now brothers and sisters, do you also have a hidden issue like her? Perhaps it is some failures, a lie, some mistake of the past or a growing weakness that we cannot share. But the truth is, these hidden problems can really damage our inner person. For the woman in this account, she is ridden by the misery of the bleeding condition on her physical body, but on the inside, she is ridden by the misery of shame. Thus, she is willing to be healed, but she cannot overcome the fear of exposing her truth. So she secretly touched Jesus’ cloak and was healed instantly. When Jesus asked who it was, she was fearful but she revealed everything to Him and the crowd. At that moment, her shame became a testimony before all. And Jesus gave her a truly comforting and encouraging statement, “Your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

So what can we infer from this passage?

Firstly, the Lord knows and He heals us inside out. 

He knows what we are dealing with on the outside, and He also knows full well our pain and shame. And not only that, He can and will heal us. But often, we only wait till we reach the end of ourselves, do we turn to Him. We go through all channels to solve, to hide, to escape. And especially with issues that are already deep rooted over a long time, it ca be exceptionally hard for one to open up about it, in fear of opening up old wounds. Do we have something like that in our hearts today? Brothers and sisters, we have to be brought forth to Jesus when such hurts and inner struggle troubles us. Because of this problem, all the more we should come to church, to the Word, to the community of God loving brethren and to seek spiritual leaders for help and intercession. When we do so, we will gradually restore a heart that relies on Him.

Next, when we put our faith in Jesus, healing will surely follow.

You can see it with the woman in the verses. When she know Jesus and trusted in Him, her physical condition received practical healing. But the key here is to not focus on the physical healing but what we turn our faith upon. If your faith is placed on Jesus, the direction and purpose of where you search for answers will shift. And the grace of God will work in our hearts, to bring us surpassing peace, assurance or even perseverance over our pain, regardless of how our outward condition may be. 

Finally, the Lord cares about our inner healing more than the outward deliverance. 

Perhaps for this woman, she is only hoping for her bleeding condition to stop. But she did not realise that for the past twelve years, her struggle with shame and self pity is a greater issue. But through this incident, Jesus turned her shame into an opportunity to glorify God. God can turn a shameful past or sin into a testimony, into something that can cause people to marvel at God’s grace and power.
So brothers and sisters, if you have your own hidden problems, let it not be in hiding anymore. Healing begins when we expose the devil’s hold on us through our hidden sins or shame. Bring it up before the Lord, work it through with His truth and if needed, find a spiritual leader to remind you and pray for you. The Lord can heal you and free you from your suffering. Let us take heart from the passage today. God bless.