The Woman with the Issue of Blood: Reaching Through the Crowd

Biblical Source: Mark 5:25–34; also Matthew 9:20–22 and Luke 8:43–48
A standalone biographical passage for the EC–18+ curriculum
Reading level: approximately 660 Lexile (3rd–4th grade)
Vocabulary note: Written using high-frequency Dolch sight words (was, had, went, could not, said, then, saw, touch, felt, well) paired with AAC core vocabulary (want, help, more, stop, go, touch, feel, all done, again, good), so the passage can support both fluent readers and core-word communicators in the same lesson.

Family and Community

Scripture does not tell us this woman’s name.

We do not know about her parents, husband, children, or where she was from.

But Mark tells us something important about her life:

She had been bleeding for twelve years (Mark 5:25).

Her condition had lasted a long time.

She had looked for help.

She had spent what she had.

And she was getting worse instead of better.

The Passage

A woman had been bleeding for twelve years.

During those years, she had gone to many doctors. She had spent all the money she had trying to get well.

But the treatments had not helped her.

Instead, her condition had become worse (Mark 5:25–26).

Her condition affected more than her body. Under the religious purity laws of her community, ongoing bleeding also affected physical contact and participation in everyday religious and social life.

Then the woman heard about Jesus.

A large crowd had gathered around him. People pressed close on every side.

The woman believed that if she could touch Jesus’ clothes, she would be healed (Mark 5:27–28).

So she moved through the crowd.

She came up behind Jesus.

And she touched his clothes.

Right away, the bleeding stopped.

She felt in her body that something had changed (Mark 5:29).

Then Jesus stopped.

He asked:

“Who touched my clothes?” (Mark 5:30, KJV)

His disciples were confused. People were pressing against Jesus from every direction.

How could he ask who had touched him?

But Jesus kept looking.

The woman knew what had happened.

She was afraid, but she came forward. She fell before Jesus and told him the truth (Mark 5:33).

Jesus listened.

He did not scold her.

Instead, he called her something beautiful:

“Daughter.”

Then he told her that her faith had made her whole and told her to go in peace (Mark 5:34).

Key Verse

“Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”
— Mark 5:34 (KJV)

Twelve Years Is a Long Time

Twelve years is almost the entire span from kindergarten through high school.

This woman had lived with her condition for that long.

She had sought medical care.

She had tried treatments.

She had spent her money.

And she had not gotten better.

Mark does not describe a person who simply waited for help.

She had been trying to find help for years.

Families living with disabilities and chronic conditions may recognize something in that experience.

There can be appointments.

Specialists.

Treatments.

Travel.

Bills.

New plans.

And sometimes another attempt when the last one did not work.

Long-term conditions can affect far more than a person’s body.

They can affect finances, relationships, routines, participation, and connection to community.

She Reached for Jesus Herself

The woman does something important in this story.

She acts.

No one carries her to Jesus.

No one calls out for her.

No one asks Jesus to heal her.

She decides how she will approach him.

Her self-advocacy looks very different from Bartimaeus calling loudly from the side of the road.

Bartimaeus shouts.

This woman moves quietly through a crowd.

Both are trying to reach Jesus.

That matters when we teach self-advocacy.

Self-advocacy does not have to look the same for everyone.

Some people speak loudly and directly.

Some communicate quietly.

Some use AAC.

Some sign.

Some gesture.

Some need time.

Some need support.

There is no single correct way to have a voice.

Jesus Called Her “Daughter”

Jesus could have allowed the woman to disappear back into the crowd.

She had received what she came for.

But Jesus stopped.

He looked for her.

And when she came forward, he listened to her.

Then he called her “Daughter.”

Scripture never gives us her name.

But it gives us the word Jesus used for her.

Daughter.

After a story filled with illness, medical care, financial loss, fear, and isolation, Jesus speaks to her with belonging and tenderness.

She is not simply a medical condition.

She is not simply the person who touched him.

She is a person standing before him.

And he sees her.

Why This Story Matters for Our Curriculum

The woman with the issue of blood gives us a powerful story about long-term illness, disability, access, financial burden, isolation, agency, and dignity.

For twelve years, she had tried to get better.

She had sought medical help.

She had spent what she had.

Then she heard about Jesus and decided to reach him herself.

For students with disabilities, there is an important message here:

There is more than one way to advocate for yourself.

For parents, educators, caregivers, ministry leaders, and advocates, there is another:

A long-term condition affects a whole life, not simply a body.

Medical needs can come with financial costs.

Rules and attitudes can create social barriers.

Repeated treatments can become exhausting.

And people can become known by their diagnosis instead of by who they are.

Jesus does something different.

He stops.

He listens.

And in a crowd full of people, he speaks directly to her:

“Daughter.”

Note: Leviticus 15: 25–30 provides the biblical background for ritual purity related to ongoing bleeding. Ritual impurity in the Hebrew Scriptures should not be equated with personal sin or moral wrongdoing. Scripture references use standard chapter-and-verse citations so readers can use whichever Bible translation their ministry, classroom, or family prefers. Direct Scripture quotations above are from the public-domain King James Version.