Pastor Al Stone opened with gratitude for the church’s partnership in gospel work across Canada and the United States. The American Gospel Project and the Canadian Gospel Project continue to place the Scriptures in homes and to reach people through print and digital means. John and Romans booklets have already gone into millions of Canadian homes. New postcard and QR-code outreach is planned for Halifax and Dartmouth so that local churches can follow up those who respond. Prayer and support remain vital as another generation is invited to find peace, hope, and purpose in Christ.
A visit to Magdala in Israel brought the morning text into sharp focus. In a chapel dedicated to the women of the Bible hangs a large painting of feet and a woman’s hand stretching toward the hem of a garment. That image is not the washing of the disciples’ feet. It is the scene recorded in Mark chapter 5.
Was the touch of the garment all she could get?
Jesus was on His way to the house of Jairus when a great crowd thronged Him. “And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had 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” (Mark 5:24-27).
The woman had endured twelve years of haemorrhage. Physicians had taken her money and left her worse. She was weak, unclean according to the law, and dying. In that press of people she could not expect a private audience. The garment seemed the only thing she might reach. Yet the text shows that the touch was not an accident of the crowd. She came with purpose.
The touch of the garment was all she wanted
“For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole” (Mark 5:28). She did not seek a souvenir or a moment of fame. She intended to touch the garment because she believed something about the One who wore it. Other translations soften the wording to “cured,” “healed,” or “well.” The King James Bible keeps the word “whole.” That word reaches body, soul, and spirit. It is the language of complete transformation.
She pressed through the crowd knowing she would make others ceremonially unclean. She reached anyway. The unclean woman did not contaminate Christ. Christ made the unclean clean.
Was the touch of the garment all she needed?
Virtue, or strength, went out of Him the instant she touched His clothes. “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 disciples thought the question odd in such a crush of people. Jesus knew exactly who had touched Him and why.
He looked until He found her. She came fearing and trembling and told Him all the truth. “And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague” (Mark 5:34). The garment itself held no magic. Faith in the Person who wore the garment made her whole.
The woman knew that this was the Lord (Psalm 93)
Jewish families travelling to Jerusalem for the feasts sang the psalms. Psalm 93 is short and memorable: “The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved” (Psalm 93:1). The Messiah would be clothed with majesty and strength. The woman had heard of Jesus. She concluded that this was the Lord of that psalm. If His garment carried the strength of God, a touch would make her whole.
Jesus confirmed what she believed. Strength had gone out of Him because she recognised who He was. The greatness was never in the cloth. The greatness was in Him who wore the garment.
Many today are hurting in body, mind, marriage, or finances. Medications, good works, and even church attendance cannot do what only Christ can do. The invitation remains the same. Press through whatever crowd stands between you and Jesus. Come to the One who still makes people whole.
Conclusion
The woman of Mark 5 left the crowd with more than a stopped haemorrhage. She left with peace and with a Saviour. The same Lord who was clothed with strength that day still meets those who reach for Him in faith. Whether you need salvation or fresh help for a heavy load, the way is open. Come to Jesus and be made whole.
