“Anyone whom the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.” – Leviticus 15:11
This is what makes the story in which a woman with a years-long discharge of blood is healed by touching the fringe of Jesus’ cloak so remarkable. That story isn’t just about extraordinary faith and the power of Jesus to heal. It’s one of two interconnected stories in which Jesus has contact with someone who, according to the Law, should have made Him unclean but didn’t. Instead, Jesus healed the woman and raised a dead child to life!
What makes these stories so important is that under the Law, uncleanness spread like a virus. If anyone touched something or someone unclean, because of leprosy, the discharge of bodily fluids, or death, that person became unclean. Uncleanness spread like wildfire. Under the Law, there is only one Being able to reverse that flow of uncleanness. Only one Being Who spread cleanness rather than uncleanness. God. Only God could make the unclean clean. Only God could have contact with the unclean and not become unclean Himself.
In these stories in which Jesus came in contact with someone or something unclean under the Law, the fact that He never became unclean and instead healed the underlying cause of uncleanness is a powerful evidence that He is God. They aren’t just great miracles, they are the quiet testimony that Jesus is God come in the flesh. God come to earth to make all who put their faith in Him clean forever. This is the person and power of Jesus – trust and do not doubt that if you are in Christ, you have been made clean! #FollowJesus