“And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?” Mark 5:30.

The little girl who died was 12 years old and the woman had suffered her ailment for 12 years. One was growing and increasing while the other was declining and dying! In both cases the events of those 12 years were ordained of God for His glory. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33. 

Consider the Saviour’s question.

IT CONCERNED THE WOMAN TOUCHING THE SAVIOUR’S CLOTHES

A seemingly trivial matter. Many thronged Him (pressed in around Him) but ONLY ONE touched (fastened, clung to) Him, verse 31! 

1.The touch registered with Christ. It mattered to Christ. How much is going on that man cannot see - (Word for all preachers!) The disciples did not see her reaching out to Christ.

2. The background to the touch. It goes back 12 years, verse 25. Suffered (at the hands of those who were supposed to cure her), spent, worse off, verse 26. So it is with all man’s effort! The medicine of false preachers likewise cannot heal the sinner.

3. That which prompted the touch. “When she had heard of Jesus,” verse 27. How important it is to speak of WHO He is; WHY He came; and WHAT He does.

4. The expectation she had. What she had heard (hearkened to) of Christ caused her to believe that touching Him would heal her. Here is the seed of faith. It was the border, the hem (the finished work - John 19:30) of the garment she touched, Luke 8:44. She had to stoop very low. This is how we need to come to the cross and humbly trust in the saviour’s death for salvation.