And Jesus,
immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him
about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said
unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched
me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the
woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down
before him, and told him all the truth. (Mark 5:30-33)
Commenting on this pericope, and how Jesus’
knowledge of the identity of who touched him was not “immediate,” R.T.
France (Anglican) noted:
30–33 Jesus’ sudden challenge takes everyone by
surprise. The commonsense response of the disciples (to which Jesus does not
even deign to reply) serves to heighten the peculiarity of his question; how
can one ‘touch’ be singled out among a jostling crowd? The effect is again to
set Jesus apart as one with supernatural insight, who can perceive the special
situation of the one among the many. That supernatural insight does not,
however, apparently extend to an instant recognition of the culprit, and
the woman, who has already begun to make her escape, is obliged to return (ἦλθεν) and own up to her
temerity. Her fear may derive not only from her awe in the presence of the
miraculous healer and the general embarrassment of the situation, but also from
the awareness that in touching Jesus without permission she has made him
ritually unclean; if that is the case, however, neither Jesus nor Mark mentions
the point. (R.T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text
[New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans,
2002], 237-38)
