“GO IN PEACE”

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” —Luke 8:47, 48

In the same moment that all her hopes were realized, all her fears also came true. The healed woman was suddenly the center of the crowd’s attention, and there was nowhere for her to hide. For a moment, the joy of her healing was swamped by the fear of being discovered. Trembling with a fear that belied the faith she had demonstrated, she fell at Jesus’ feet and began stammering out her story. But her voice likely grew stronger as her story reached the climax of her miraculous healing only a few moments earlier.

Jesus stayed quiet to allow her the space to tell her story. It is easy to imagine His smile growing as her confidence grew in telling her story—giving her testimony of how her brief encounter with Jesus had transformed her. A quietness rippled through the crowd as they strained to hear her. As she finished speaking, perhaps Jesus paused for a moment to let the silence of this moment linger. Then we can imagine the gentleness in His voice as He quieted the last echoes of her fear, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” In Matthew’s telling of the story, it was with these words that she was healed (see Matthew 9:22).

Perhaps this speaks of the larger act of healing and restoration that this physical healing entailed—restored to her community, healed of her shame and fear, and given a renewed identity as a daughter of God with a story to tell of how Jesus had changed her life.