The Woman with Blood Issue

Let’s read and learn about the woman who had a blood issue. She is only mentioned in the Books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew’s version is the shortest, “And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort, their faith hath made thee whole, And the woman was made whole from that hour” (Matthew 9:20–22).

By reading this, we learn that she did not touch Jesus but his garment, she probably didn’t want to touch Jesus because everything she touched would be considered unclean. The Jews would have believed that this disease was unclean (Lev 15:25–27). According to Matthew, the woman was healed from that hour but in the other two gospels, she was immediately healed.

In Mark’s account, it says, “And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of that…