Luke shares a story about two healings on one day, which I believe dovetail by no coincidence. There is a hidden gem in this story which I’ll call “The Twelve Years of Discovery”.
Jesus heals two females
Luke 8:40-56 shares how a woman was healed simply by touching the hem of Jesus’ garment, as He walked through a crowd toward a home where a sick child lay dying.
“But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.” (v 42b)
The Woman
The alleyways were crowded. A woman who had been bleeding for 12 years strained to get to Him without being noticed as she was unclean and would have created a huge furore. She did it! And He said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”
As Jesus was speaking to the woman, reassuring her, “be of good cheer; your faith has made you well..”(v 48a) someone approached the sick child’s father to say, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.” (v 49)
The Daughter
But Jesus contested and said, “Do not be afraid; only believe and she will be made well.” (v 50a) The father was faithful and when they arrived at his home, Jesus told the mourners to stop. He then put them out of the room and with only the child’s mother and father, Peter, James and John, he “took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” And arise she did!
Blood
The hidden gem is that as one girl died at the age of puberty, the woman who had been bleeding for the duration of that child’s life, was healed. There is no coincidence.
One died so another might live. And then, Jesus restored the flow of blood in the child as the flow of blood from the woman was stopped.
The woman’s issue of blood is a symbol as well as very real.
Jesus truly is all about the blood. His is spilled so that we might have life. The child’s is spilled so the woman might be healed. And as the woman’s overflow of blood is stopped, the girl dies and then awakens again, restored to life.
12 years before this day…
In the year a woman becomes ill and is unable to bear children, a child in another home is born. And twelve years later, when the woman is healed, the child dies. The blood is stopped in two people — one restoring a healthy life, another life ending.
These lives are linked; it is clear.
Wow! Nothing but the blood of Jesus restores us to eternal life.
Jesus died, His blood stopped. The side is pierced and His flow of blood and water confirms this. (John 19:34)
Jesus is resurrected. His flow of blood is restored.
See how the females in this story echo how incredible GOD works in the lives of His children? It is through the blood.
Hidden Gem
Over and over again, the Word of GOD is full of connections. There are no coincidences. When we find a hidden gem, its sparkle shines brightly so that we can look, inspect, investigate, explore and learn.