Mark 5:31

And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:21-34 A despised gospel will go where it will be better received. One of the rulers of a synagogue earnestly besought Christ for a little daughter, about twelve years old, who was dying. Another cure was wrought by the way. We should do good, not only when in the house, but when we walk by the way, De 6:7. It is common with people not to apply to Christ till they have tried in vain all other helpers, and find them, as certainly they will, physicians of no value. Some run to diversions and gay company; others plunge into business, or even into intemperance; others go about to establish their own righteousness, or torment themselves by vain superstitions. Many perish in these ways; but none will ever find rest to the soul by such devices; while those whom Christ heals of the disease of sin, find in themselves an entire change for the better. As secret acts of sin, so secret acts of faith, are known to the Lord Jesus. The woman told all the truth. It is the will of Christ that his people should be comforted, and he has power to command comfort to troubled spirits. The more simply we depend on Him, and expect great things from him, the more we shall find in ourselves that he is become our salvation. Those who, by faith, are healed of their spiritual diseases, have reason to go in peace.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Virtue had gone out of him - Power to heal. The word in the original means power.

Who touched my clothes? - This be said, not to obtain information, for he had healed her, and must have known on whom the blessing was conferred; but he did it that the woman might herself make a confession of the whole matter, so that the power of her faith and the greatness of the miracle might be manifested to the praise of God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

31. And his disciples said unto him—Luke says (Lu 8:45), "When all denied, Peter and they that were with Him said, Master."

Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?—"Askest thou, Lord, who touched Thee? Rather ask who touched Thee not in such a throng." "And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched Me"—"a certain person has touched Me"—"for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me" (Lu 8:46). Yes, the multitude "thronged and pressed Him"—they jostled against Him, but all involuntarily; they were merely carried along; but one, one only—"a certain person—TOUCHED Him," with the conscious, voluntary, dependent touch of faith, reaching forth its hand expressly to have contact with Him. This and this only Jesus acknowledges and seeks out. Even so, as Augustine long ago said, multitudes still come similarly close to Christ in the means of grace, but all to no purpose, being only sucked into the crowd. The voluntary, living contact of faith is that electric conductor which alone draws virtue out of Him.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 5:25"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And his disciples said unto him,.... Peter, and they that were with him; after the crowd that were about him denied that any of them had touched him; see Luke 8:45,

thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou who touched me? They seem astonished at his question, and answer with some degree of warmth, and almost ready to charge it as weak: and impertinent; since, as there was such a crowd about him, pressing him on every side, he could not but be touched by many; and therefore to ask who touched him, when this was the case, they thought was a very strange and unnecessary question.

Geneva Study Bible

And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 5:31. τὸν ὀχ. συνθλίβοντά f1σε, the crowd squeezing Thee, as in Mark 5:24. The simple verb in Mark 3:9. The compound implies a greater crowd, or a more eager pressure around Jesus. How exciting and fatiguing that rude popularity for Him!

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 31. - St. Luke (Luke 8:45) adds here, "When all denied, Peter said, and they that were with him, Master, the multitudes press thee and crush thee. But Jesus said, Some one did touch me; for I perceived that power had gone forth from me." This incident shows the mysterious connection between the spiritual and the physical. The miraculous virtue or power which went forth from the Saviour was spiritual in its source and in the conditions on which it was imparted, but it was physical in its operation; and that which brought the two together was faith. Multitudes thronged the Saviour, but only one of the crowd touched him. Mark 5:31