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 iair-150x150PHYSICAL, SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALING.

 Just as Jesus is being crushed by the crowds, this woman has been crushed by her medical condition for 12 long years. She has suffered not just the physical impact of feeling drained and aneemic for all that time, but also the social impact. At this time, someone who was bleeding was denied access to general society and religious fellowship. It's unlikely that this woman would have felt free to come up to Jesus during the normal public healings. So in her desperation, she tries for a secret healing. 

But there's not going to be a secret healing. Jesus demands that she declare herself. In other instances, Jesus knew the thoughts in people's heart, so He probably knew exactly who had touched Him and why. His demand is not based on His need to know who it was, but on her need to own up. Forced out of hiding, she tells the full story. It must have been embarrassing talking publicly what was probably a 'women's problem', and it may have been against the rules for her even to be in the crowd. But with her public admission comes public vindication. Jesus wants her to have physical healing, social healing and most importantly spiritual healing.

The most important thing is not the private impact of the healing, but the public impact of our faith.  (Belinda Pollard)