Mark 5:27-28 (NIV) When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” (NKJ) When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
The woman’s belief that she will be healed by touching Jesus’ cloak is consistent with Greco-Roman beliefs on magic, but it also has parallels elsewhere in Scripture. People are healed by touching Jesus’ cloak in Gennesaret (Matthew 14:34-36) and other places (Luke 6:17-19). After Jesus’ ascension people are apparently healed by merely being in Peter’s shadow (Acts 5:12-16). And handkerchiefs that Paul touches serve as vessels to heal the sick and free people from demonic possession (Acts 19-11-12).
There is much debate as to whether the woman touches Jesus’ robe out of informed faith, or mere superstition. The story of the faith of the centurion shows it may have been both. The centurion not only has faith that Jesus can heal his servant, but he also has an understanding that Jesus’ authority and power is such that He can do so at a distance with only a word (Matthew 8:5-13). Where the centurion sees Jesus’ word as an expression of His authority, the woman sees His cloak as a conduit for His power. This emphasizes a point explored elsewhere in the Bible: faith is valid only when it’s placed in something trustworthy. Faith in God is effective because it’s trust in something real and true. Even if the exact reasoning behind this woman’s faith was less-than-perfect, she was trusting in something legitimate, and that’s why she found healing.