The compassion of Jesus

Based on an extract from her latest book, Glorious: Celebrating God’s goodness in our womanhood, Holly Satterthwaite has a message on God’s love, based on story of the bleeding woman 

The narrative of the bleeding woman (Mark 5:21–42) doesn’t just speak about the glory of God’s power over sin; it also speaks of the compassion and gentle care of Jesus. The King of the universe also cares about human physical wellbeing in [her] temporary body on this temporary earth (2 Corinthians) – he heals her medical condition. He [then] raises Jairus’ daughter from death and instructs the parents to make her a meal (Mark 5:43). He cares about our physicality as only a God who has walked the earth alongside us can. Jesus was tempted and experienced physical weakness in his earthly body in the same way we do. He didn’t just sympathise with the bleeding woman; he knew what pain felt like, and what it was like to be socially excluded and despised. In time, his experience of pain would far eclipse this woman’s experience, as he was nailed to the cross.