<p>9:20&nbsp;<em>Behold</em>- AV. If Matthew is like a cameraman at these scenes, the word &quot;behold&quot; is as it were a zoom in message, bringing us to focus upon an individual.</p>
<p><em>And a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years</em>- Exactly how old the child was. Clearly the hand of providence had been at work in both these lives according to some defined sense of timing.<br />
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<em>Came behind Him</em>- The scene is being developed from 9:19, where the Lord and the disciples are following the rushing man; and now we 'see' the woman coming behind Jesus, as if she in this sense was also one of the disciples who followed behind Him.<br />
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<em>And touched the border of his garment</em>- Her example inspired the many others who later sought to do this in Mt. 14:36. It has been suggested that the hem of the garment referred to the blue band which was to be worn by Jews to remind them of their commitment to obedience to God. In this case she would have been seeking to associate herself with the righteousness of Christ and be healed / saved [the same Greek word is used] thereby. In essence, this is what faith and baptism into Christ is all about. But the simpler reading is that she thought that if she associated herself even with the Lord's periphery, she would thereby be saved / healed. Given Jewish phobia about blood and the fact that any touching her would have been ritually unclean, she surely disguised her condition. And yet she didn't consider that her uncleanness could make the Lord unclean. Her view of His righteousness was correct- it can be shared with us, but our uncleanness cannot negate His purity. She was driven to this insight by her desperation, just as Job's desperation led him to understand doctrinal truths that were beyond his time and place.</p>
<p>The Lord allowed this interruption when the man was so earnest that the Lord would haste to his home. The Lord, and the hand of providence, wanted to teach the man that how long a person has been dead is no barrier to resurrection; his faith needed to be developed further. And it fits in with the apparent silence of the Lord, always to develop the intensity of our desire for Him and our focus upon Him. Jesus focused on the essential whilst still being human enough to be involved in the irrelevancies which cloud the lives of all other men. Just glancing through a few random chapters from the Gospels reveals this tremendous sense of focus which He had, and His refusal to be distracted by self-justification. In all of the following examples I suspect we would have become caught up with justifying ourselves and answering the distractions to the point that our initial aim was paralyzed.&nbsp;</p>
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            <div><b><font size="3"><strong>Focus</strong></font></b></div>
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            <div><b><font size="3"><strong>Distraction</strong></font></b></div>
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            <div><b><font size="3"><strong>Resumed Focus</strong></font></b></div>
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            <div>The sick woman   touches His clothes, and He turns around to see her. He wants to talk to her.</div>
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            <div>The disciples   tell Him that this is unreasonable, as a huge crowd is pressing on to Him</div>
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            <div>&quot;He looked   round about [again] to see her that had done this thing&quot; (Mk. 5:30-32).   He talks to her.</div>
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            <div>He says that   the dead girl is only sleeping; for He wants to raise her.</div>
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            <div>&quot;They   laughed Him to scorn&quot;</div>
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            <div>&quot;But...&quot;   He put them all out of the house and raised her (Mk. 5:40,41).</div>
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            <div>He was moved   with compassion for the crowds, and wants to feed them and teach them more.</div>
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            <div>The disciples   tell Him to send the people away as it was getting late</div>
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            <div>He tells the disciples   to feed them so that they can stay and hear more (Mk. 6:35-37)</div>
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            <div>Again He has compassion&nbsp;on   the hunger of the crowd</div>
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            <div>The disciples   mock His plan to feed them</div>
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            <div>He feeds them   (Mk. 8:3-6)</div>
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            <div>He explains how   He must die</div>
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            <div>Peter rebukes   Him</div>
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            <div>He repeats His message,   telling them that they too must follow the way of the cross (Mk. 8:31-34)</div>
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