In Mark 5:25ff, we meet a woman who, for twelve years, suffered from a condition that drained her physically, financially, and socially. The law rendered her perpetually unclean, barring her from the temple and isolating her from community and family. Every physician had failed her. Every resource had been spent. Yet, when she heard reports of Jesus, hope arose within her heart. She pressed through a jostling, shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, stooped low, and stretched out her hand to touch the hem of Christ’s robe. And immediately she was healed. It wasn’t the touch of His garment that made her whole but the faith by which she reached out. She had been living in the realm of death but Jesus rescued her. Though she was unclean when she touched Jesus, He cannot be defiled. Whenever the unclean come into contact with Him, He bears their corruption away and imparts His purity to them. This miracle is a foreshadow the cross, where Christ takes upon Himself the sin of all the elect, absorbs the full wrath of God, and exchanges our defilement for his righteousness. The woman's story is our story, an invitation to press through every obstacle and lay hold of the one who alone can make us whole.