The Power of Jesus

By Danny Saavedra

“Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ‘You see the people crowding against you,’ his disciples answered, ‘and yet you can ask, “Who touched me?”’ But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’” Mark 5:29–34 (NIV)

“Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.”

The Greek word for power is dynamin, and it’s found 120 times in the New Testament. Strong’s Concordance defines it as “miraculous might; marvelous works; powerful deeds.” 

Picking up where we left off yesterday, the woman with the bleeding condition who was perpetually unclean and unable to touch anyone without making them unclean, touches Jesus and receives immediate healing. Jesus senses power had “gone out from him.” Now, without a proper understanding of who Jesus is, this phrase may seem odd. As a kid, I questioned, “Did she drain Jesus of some of His power? Is that why He felt it?” 

But as I’ve studied the Word and grown in my understanding of Jesus, I’ve come to realize a few powerful truths in this passage: 

1. Jesus, who knows all things by His power and nature as God, knew exactly that the woman who touched Him was healed.

2. Nothing is done without His knowledge or apart from His will. Therefore, this woman couldn’t just siphon off some of His divine power apart from His participating consent. It was done entirely by His power, with His permission, and for His purposes.

3. This emphatically shows us the power of Christ. A prophet needs to call on God to heal because the power is not their own. But because Christ is God, He is the source of all power, including every miracle performed by Old and New Testament prophets and apostles, and thus doesn’t need to call on anyone but Himself for power to perform a miracle. 

After she was healed, Jesus does a curious thing: He asks who touched Him, to which the disciples respond with a little sass. But He wasn’t asking them, nor was He asking because He didn’t know. He did it for the sake of the woman, so she could make her confession of faith, and so the greatness of this miracle might be made known to the praise of God. 

Now terrified, as you would expect her to be at such a public exposure of herself, this humble woman knew she had a story to tell. So, she falls on her knees before Him and shares how she knew if she could just touch Him, she’d be healed because she knew in her heart who Jesus was. Taking her from outcast to an heir in God’s kingdom, Jesus replies, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” 

I hope after these last two days in this encounter with Jesus, you understand more deeply the power of God, the nature of faith that draws us to the feet of Jesus, and the will of God to use our suffering to free us and bring us into peace.

PAUSE: Why did Jesus ask who touched Him?

PRACTICE: Similar to Lazarus’ death where Jesus said, “This sickness . . . is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (John 11:4 NIV), today’s passage shows us an encounter with Jesus that was ordained for the glory of God. Today, look back on your life. Write some events, circumstances, seasons, and moments in which God used your life and the work He did in it to glorify Himself and make His power known to others. Reflect on those moments and praise Him for them!

PRAY: Father, in Jesus’ name, I thank You today for who You are! You are powerful. You know all things, You see all things, and You ordain and orchestrate all things for Your good and perfect purposes, for Your glory, for the glory of Jesus, and for the good of those who love You and are called according to Your purposes. I pray that whatever happens in my life, even the hard moments and the hurt, that it would all serve You, that it would lead others to You, and that it would advance Your kingdom. Instill in me the kind of faith this woman had to be courageous and bold in Your name, and be with me every step of the way. Amen.