What does Luke 8:44 mean?

A crowd is pressing in on Jesus (Luke 8:42). Somehow, a woman with chronic bleeding manages to make her way to Him and touch His cloak.

Mark has more to say about the woman. This is not a spontaneous decision. She had heard about Jesus and believes that if she touches Jesus' garments, she will be healed (Mark 5:27–28). She does so quietly, however. Her medical condition makes her and anything she touches ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15:25–30). That includes the throng around her and the unsuspecting religious leader she is about to touch. Even so, none of the Gospel writers condemn her decision, perhaps because Jesus is so quick to praise her faith (Luke 8:48).

Because of the woman's great faith, she is immediately healed. Mark elaborates, "and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease" (Mark 5:29). For twelve years, she has been a social outcast. Besides the incredible inconvenience of uncontrollable bleeding, she likely experienced anemia and pain. No more would she wonder if she had somehow sinned to deserve this condition or seek out useless "healers" to take what little money she could scrounge (Luke 8:43; Mark 5:26). She is free. Now the only thing left to do is leave quietly so that no one suspects.

But Jesus doesn't let her go so easily. He finds her out, and she confesses what she has done before the whole crowd. She must be terrified that He will be angry or that the crowd will condemn her for making the holy man unclean. Instead, Jesus uses the opportunity to make sure all the people know she is healed and clean and no longer a social pariah (Luke 8:45–47).

Literally, "fringe" just means the hem of Jesus' garment, but it may refer to one of the tassels that Jewish men wore on their cloaks to remind them of the Mosaic law (Numbers 15:38–41).