What does Luke 8:45 mean?
Luke does not give an exact explanation for why Jesus asks this question. As God, Jesus maintained the full nature of His deity, including omniscience. God does ask questions He knows the answer to, often to draw someone to engage with Him or examine the situation or their own hearts (Genesis 3:9, 11; Job 1:7; Exodus 4:2). However, Jesus also limited His divine attributes to live a fully human life. Philippians 2:7 says Jesus "emptied himself." It's unclear if this refers to His social authority as God and Creator or if it means He laid aside some of His characteristics to better experience human life. The latter is possible, as Luke indicates in Jesus' childhood: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:52).Jesus explains He knows someone touched Him, saying, "for I perceive that power has gone out from me" (Luke 8:46). He certainly did not have less power than before—"gone out" here is in the sense of a conduit, not an emptying. But scholars disagree as to the implications of this statement. Was it His innate power as God? Was it the Holy Spirit's power? The answers depend on the meaning of Philippians 2:7, which is not perfectly clear.
The situation involves many people swarming around Jesus to touch Him and gain a blessing. The Greek terms here imply that Jesus is physically confined, as modern English might describe as "the crush" of a crowd. The crowd is reaching out to touch Jesus, bumping into Him, even being thrown against Him. But only one person received the benefit of His healing power.