What is the significance of the account of the woman with the issue of blood?

from the old testament

• Part of what the Levitical law did was to define what made one unclean. One such way was a woman’s menstrual cycle. Leviticus 15:25–27 reads, “If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. 27 And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.”
• Note: Some mistakenly confuse “unclean” with “sinful.” Being unclean isn’t synonymous with being sinful. Rather, being unclean means being in a state where one can’t approach God and where one must separate from others, lest they also become unclean by contact.

from the new testament

• The woman with the issue of blood is found in Matthew 9:20–22, Mark 5:25–34, and Luke 8:42–48. However, Mark provides the most detail. This is significant since Mark is usually shorter than the other Gospels, suggesting that Mark found this particular story important for showing how Jesus saves even the unclean.
• The account happened while Jesus was heading to heal a ruler’s daughter (Mark 5:22–24). As He walked along, the crowd was following Him (Mark 5:21), which Mark explains included a woman “who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse” (Mark 5:25–26).
• The blood discharge, also translated as a hemorrhage (e.g., NASB), likely referred to a menstrual issue, though none of the accounts provide any specificity. What we are to understand, though, is that this had happened for a long time with no resolution. Being a Jewish woman, this meant that she had been ceremonially unclean for those twelve years, meaning she would have been ostracized from general Jewish life and that no one would touch her lest they become unclean as well.
• This woman, hearing that Jesus was passing, reasoned to herself, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well” (Mark 5:27–28). She managed to get close enough and touch Him, “and immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease” (Mark 5:29).
• However, even though many were pressing against Him, Jesus felt that specific touch because of the power that left Him to heal the woman (Mark 5:30–32). The woman, knowing she had done what she was never to do—touch someone—fell before Him in fear, confessing what she had done (Mark 5:33). Jesus replied to her kindly, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (Mark 5:34).
• The word translated as “well” is sozo in Greek. That word means “save” (e.g., Romans 10:9). This, coupled with the fatherly language of "daughter," indicates that He was saying that her faith in Jesus was a saving faith, implying that she walked away as more than simply healed: she was justified. The healing was a visible expression of her faith.

implications for today

While on earth, Jesus healed many people. Sometimes He healed out of compassion (Matthew 14:14), and sometimes His healings served as signs (John 20:30–31). But sometimes His healing indicated something bigger was happening: salvation.

When the woman decided to touch Jesus against all social norms for an unclean person, she was expressing a deep faith that Jesus was who He claimed to be. In her desperation, she reasoned that since He was the Healer, it was worth the risk of touching Him for healing despite her being ceremonially unclean.

Her faith transcended the normal understandings of that society. To be unclean and touch someone else was to make them unclean. Yet by faith she touched Jesus, and He called her “daughter” and used the word sozo, indicating she wasn’t just physically healed at that moment but also spiritually.

You also need healing. Perhaps not physically, but as a sinner (Romans 3:23), you are spiritually sick. Left to your own, you will die both physically and eternally (Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:15). However, Jesus said that all who come to Him, no matter how sick, He will cast none out (John 6:37). Jesus heals. Yes, sometimes physically, but your greatest need is not physical healing but a spiritual one. Turn to Him, trust that He is who He said He is, and believe in Him. When you do, you also will be saved (Acts 16:31)!