Somebody Touched Me

The song “Somebody Touched Me” is bluegrass gospel song, covered by many artists, most notably by The Stanley Brothers.  The song’s most repeated two lines are - Glory, glory, glory, somebody touched me, Must have been the hand of the Lord.  In the song, it is Jesus that touched somebody, but there is a story in the synoptic gospels (Matthew 9, Mark 5, and Luke 8) where somebody touched Jesus.

Jesus is among a multitude and they are pressing up against Him.  The crowd desires to get closer and closer to Jesus.  Word has spread rapidly about Jesus's miraculous healings.  Jesus is walking slowly because of the large crowd surrounding Him.  An unnamed woman tries to draw near Jesus.  We are told she has had a blood flow for twelve years.  Luke records she had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any of them.  Mark adds "she had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.”  The woman was considered ritually “unclean” under the Mosaic Law due to her continual bleeding and would have been excluded from many religious and public activities.  She had an isolated, lonely, and miserable life.

The woman is desperate to be healed.  She too has heard about this man named Jesus who has the power to heal.  She does not want to bother Jesus or even talk to Him.  She just wants to get near enough to touch Him.  Matthew records that she said to herself, "If I only may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  She firmly believes Jesus has the power to heal her and she will act on that belief. The determined woman somehow managed to maneuver her way through the crowd and got within reaching distance of Jesus.  She comes up from behind Jesus and touches the border of His garment.  Immediately her flow of blood stopped!  Mark says “immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction."

Jesus knew something significant had happened.  He said “Who touched me?”  All the people around Jesus denied touching Him.  The disciples said to Jesus - you see the multitude throng pressing up against you and you say "Who touched Me?".  Basically, they are saying with all the jostling in such a massive gathering, naturally people are bumping into Jesus.  Jesus is adamant, and responded “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”  Of course, this does not mean that Jesus had diminished power, but that He felt power leaving Him.

The woman after seeing she was not hidden, comes out of the crowd trembling and falls down before Jesus.  She declares to Jesus in front of all the people that it was she who touched Him and she tells Him the reason.  She is no doubt embarrassed as she recounts her bleeding story. The woman tells Jesus how she was immediately healed when she touched Him.

The woman has no way of knowing how Jesus will respond or what He might say to her.  Is He going to rebuke or admonish her and further add to her humiliation?  What is He going to say to this “unclean” woman that no “right” to touch Him?  She was shaking and surely in tears.  Jesus tells her “Daughter, be of good cheer, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”  Can you imagine the wave of relief that came upon her as she heard Jesus’s words of compassion, praise and blessing?  Jesus healed her, which not only dramatically improved her quality of life, but allowed her to resume her normal place in society.

The bleeding woman sought Jesus to be healed.  Her faith led her to the only One that could heal her.  The only way we can be spiritually healed is when we encounter the “Great Physician” and come into contact with the blood of Jesus.  Jesus healed the woman’s flow of blood and we are healed by Jesus’s blood that flowed on the cross.

We don’t know her name, but we know her beautiful story of faith.  There is no doubt the woman told her amazing story countless times about the wonderful day Jesus healed her.  Her life was changed in a remarkable and profound manner.  The woman would never forget when she touched Jesus and the way He “touched” her life.

Mark Townsley