The Text
25 Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years
26 had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse.
27 Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing.
28 For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.”
29 Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
30 Immediately Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But he was looking around to see who had done this.
33 The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.
34 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”
The Devotion
The power to create all of creation
Genesis 1:1 (CSB) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
John 1:3 (CSB) All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.
The power to create light
Genesis 1:3-4 (CSB) Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.
The power to create life
Genesis 1:26-27 (CSB) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.
Psalms 139:13-14 (CSB) or it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well.
The power to create new creation
2 Corinthians 5:17 (CSB) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
The power to create a new heart
Ezekiel 36:26 (CSB) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
The power to create new life
John 1:4-5 (CSB) In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
1 John 5:1 (CSB) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him.
John 3:5-8 (CSB) Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
The Discussion
1. Where does the power of Christ come from?
John 3:34 (CSB) For the one whom God sent speaks God’s words, since he gives the Spirit without measure.
2. Where does the power of God in us come from?
John 14:15-17 (CSB) If you love me, you will keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. 17 He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.
3. Where does the power of salvation come from?
Isaiah 63:1 (CSB) Who is this coming from Edom in crimson-stained garments from Bozrah— this one who is splendid in his apparel, striding in his formidable might? It is I, proclaiming vindication, powerful to save.
4. What is the power of God in salvation?
Romans 1:16-17 (CSB) For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
5. Whose power do we live and minister by?
Ephesians 6:10 (CSB) Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength.
The Prayer from the Psalms
In whom can we live, move, and have our being?
No one else, Christ alone.
We are weak. We pray for your grace to do your will.
Be exalted above all.
Amen.
The Resources
Calvin’s Commentaries.
by John Calvin.
Baker. 2009.
Olive Tree
Mark: An Expositional Commentary
by R.C. Sproul.
Reformation Trust Publisher. 2011.
Goodreads
New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to Mark
by William Hendriksen.
Baker. 1981.
Goodreads
The Gospel according to Mark: The English Text With Introduction, Exposition, and Notes (The New International Commentary on the New Testament)
by William L. Lane.
Eerdman’s. 1974.
Goodreads
Mark (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT Volume 2)
Edited by Thomas C. Odin & Christopher A. Hall
IVP Academic. 2005.
Goodreads
Mark (The Story of God Bible Commentary Series)
by Timothy G. Gombis.
Zondervan Academic. March 9th 2021.
Goodreads