On the Daughter of the Ruler of the Synagogue, and on the Woman who was troubled with an issue of Blood.
An excerpt from St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor
When the record of past happenings are being read to us, they both illumine the mind and turn our thoughts to our own hopes for the future. Jesus was on His way to raise the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue who, He had been told, was already dead. And as He was going there, of a sudden, this woman, who was afflicted with a disease appeared in His path; filled with faith, but failing in blood: to be restored by Blood. And she said in her heart: If I shall touch only the hem of his garment, I shall be healed. Saying this, she touched it: she touched Christ in faith. She drew near and touched Him; and it happened as she believed. But the Lord asked: Who hath touched me? He wishes to know, from Whom nothing is hidden; He asks by whom this was done, though He knew of it before it was done. Here then is a mystery. Let us consider it, and as He shall give us to understand it.
The daughter of the ruler of the synagogue stands for the Jewish people; this woman the Church of the Gentiles. The Lord Christ, born of the Jews in the Flesh, appears before these same Jews in His Body. He sends to the Gentiles; He Himself does not go. His bodily and visible life was passed in Judea. Because of this the Apostles says: For I say that Christ Jesus was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers (for to Abraham was it said: In thy seed shall all nations be blessed (Gen. xxii. 18); But that the Gentiles are to glorify God for his mercy (Rom. xv. 8, 9).
Christ therefore was sent to the Jews. He was on His way to the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue to raise her to life. This woman appeared on the way, and is healed: healed first in faith; and as it were unknown to the Saviour. Why did He say: Who hath touched me? The not knowing of God; her confidence in the divine mystery: it means something, when He knows not, Who cannot not know. What then does she stand for? The healed Church of the Gentiles; which does not see Christ in His bodily presence; of whom there is mention in the psalm: A people which I knew not hath served me; at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me (Ps. xvii. 45). The whole world has heard of Him, and believed in Him. The people of Judea saw Him; they first crucified Him; hereafter they too shall come to Him. The Jews shall also believe; but at the end of the world.