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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Mark 5:30 - 5:30
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Perceiving in himself (epignous en heautōi). She thought, perhaps, that the touch of Christ’s garment would cure her without his knowing it, a foolish fancy, no doubt, but one due to her excessive timidity. Jesus felt in his own consciousness. The Greek idiom more exactly means: “Jesus perceiving in himself the power from him go out” (tēn ex autou dunamin exelthousan). The aorist participle here is punctiliar simply and timeless and can be illustrated by Luk 10:18 : “I was beholding Satan fall” (etheōroun ton Satanān pesonta), where pesonta does not mean fallen (peptōkota) as in Rev 9:1 nor falling (piptonta) but simply the constative aorist fall (Robertson, Grammar, p. 684). So here Jesus means to say: “I felt in myself the power from me go.” Scholars argue whether in this instance Jesus healed the woman by conscious will or by unconscious response to her appeal. Some even argue that the actual healing took place after Jesus became aware of the woman’s reaching for help by touching his garment. What we do know is that Jesus was conscious of the going out of power from himself. Luk 8:46 uses egnōn (personal knowledge), but Mark has epignous (personal and additional, clear knowledge). One may remark that no real good can be done without the outgoing of power. That is true of mother, preacher, teacher, doctor.
Who touched my garments? (Tis mou hēpsato tōn himatiōṉ). More exactly,
Who touched me on my clothes; The Greek verb uses two genitives, of the person and the thing. It was a dramatic moment for Jesus and for the timid woman. Later it was a common practice for the crowds to touch the hem of Christ’s garments and be healed (Mar 6:56). But here Jesus chose to single out this case for examination. There was no magic in the garments of Jesus. Perhaps there was superstition in the woman’s mind, but Jesus honoured her darkened faith as in the case of Peter’s shadow and Paul’s handkerchief.