Happy November, dear one! We are glad to have you back! When last we spoke, we left off with the healing of the man with the withered hand.
As I have said, it is hard to find someone who isn’t moved by a powerful story of transformation. There are countless shows dedicated to just this.
There are a few transformation stories, however, that are quite as radical as the story I want to talk to you about today.
Today, I want to talk to you about the woman healed from 12 years of bleeding. Before we can talk about her story, however, we need to talk about the times she lived in.
Without the back story, the transformation isn’t much more than polish and feel-goodness.
Without understanding the circumstances the woman who bled faced, we cannot understand the enormity and awe-inspiring power of what happened in her life when Jesus healed her.
First...while menstruation and uterine bleeding was historically an area of life relegated to women only, this story is just as important for the guys reading with us, for a couple of reasons. You see, while this is a story about a woman who had lived with uterine bleeding for 12 years, it is also a story about a person that was living a life that was considered so unclean and on the fringe that it is hard to imagine how they would have survived this long.
More importantly, this is a story about a person who knew what their society believed about them, their uncleanness and unworthiness, and were so positive that they could live life anew that they risked everything to have a chance to be transformed.
There is not a lot that we know about what a woman’s normal menstrual cycle would have looked like at this point in history. In large part, this is because history lives on in writing and men were the ones taught to write at this point. Aristotle and Hippocrates both wrote (approximately 400-300 BCE) about menstruation to some degree. With that said, little was understood about the frequency and function of menstruation (and would not be written about in further detail for quite some time). This lack of information created much mystery and attitudes varied vastly based on the culture. How a woman may have cared for herself during menstruation (pads/tampons/menstrual cups) is also unclear. What is clear is that women at this time, in this place, were not fully integrated members of society. For a group that was already dependent on men to provide food and shelter, in a time where women were already required to be sent away for seven days during menstruation; a woman living with 12 years of uterine bleeding would have been so far on the fringe, it is hard for our minds to reconcile it.
We don’t know much about this woman; and yet, we know everything. And I mean EVERYTHING.
We know that there is no mention of a husband, family, or other connections. This makes sense in light of the level of exclusion she would have faced. We know she spent everything she had in desperate pursuit of medical care, and not only did she not get better, she got worse (Mark 5:26).
We know she was ill. Profoundly. While history doesn’t hold the best recording of menstruation throughout time, we know that there is every chance menstrual cycles did not occur monthly for women at that time because of lack of appropriate/sufficient nutrition. On top of nutrition that would have made her vulnerable (worsened, likely, because of her isolation from the rest of society), she was likely (very) anemic after bleeding for twelve years.
We know she was part of the crowd that had followed Jesus. She would have been present when Jesus healed the man at Gerasenes. She was following as Jesus was making His way to heal Jairus’ daughter. This means that not only was she so filled with emotional strength and determination that she followed a man she had heard about, she was willing to risk it all. Simply being out and about in society would have been unacceptable.
As I have said, it is hard to find someone who isn’t moved by a powerful story of transformation. There are countless shows dedicated to just this.
There are a few transformation stories, however, that are quite as radical as the story I want to talk to you about today.
Today, I want to talk to you about the woman healed from 12 years of bleeding. Before we can talk about her story, however, we need to talk about the times she lived in.
Without the back story, the transformation isn’t much more than polish and feel-goodness.
Without understanding the circumstances the woman who bled faced, we cannot understand the enormity and awe-inspiring power of what happened in her life when Jesus healed her.
First...while menstruation and uterine bleeding was historically an area of life relegated to women only, this story is just as important for the guys reading with us, for a couple of reasons. You see, while this is a story about a woman who had lived with uterine bleeding for 12 years, it is also a story about a person that was living a life that was considered so unclean and on the fringe that it is hard to imagine how they would have survived this long.
More importantly, this is a story about a person who knew what their society believed about them, their uncleanness and unworthiness, and were so positive that they could live life anew that they risked everything to have a chance to be transformed.
There is not a lot that we know about what a woman’s normal menstrual cycle would have looked like at this point in history. In large part, this is because history lives on in writing and men were the ones taught to write at this point. Aristotle and Hippocrates both wrote (approximately 400-300 BCE) about menstruation to some degree. With that said, little was understood about the frequency and function of menstruation (and would not be written about in further detail for quite some time). This lack of information created much mystery and attitudes varied vastly based on the culture. How a woman may have cared for herself during menstruation (pads/tampons/menstrual cups) is also unclear. What is clear is that women at this time, in this place, were not fully integrated members of society. For a group that was already dependent on men to provide food and shelter, in a time where women were already required to be sent away for seven days during menstruation; a woman living with 12 years of uterine bleeding would have been so far on the fringe, it is hard for our minds to reconcile it.
We don’t know much about this woman; and yet, we know everything. And I mean EVERYTHING.
We know that there is no mention of a husband, family, or other connections. This makes sense in light of the level of exclusion she would have faced. We know she spent everything she had in desperate pursuit of medical care, and not only did she not get better, she got worse (Mark 5:26).
We know she was ill. Profoundly. While history doesn’t hold the best recording of menstruation throughout time, we know that there is every chance menstrual cycles did not occur monthly for women at that time because of lack of appropriate/sufficient nutrition. On top of nutrition that would have made her vulnerable (worsened, likely, because of her isolation from the rest of society), she was likely (very) anemic after bleeding for twelve years.
We know she was part of the crowd that had followed Jesus. She would have been present when Jesus healed the man at Gerasenes. She was following as Jesus was making His way to heal Jairus’ daughter. This means that not only was she so filled with emotional strength and determination that she followed a man she had heard about, she was willing to risk it all. Simply being out and about in society would have been unacceptable.
I should stop here. To say that she “was unclean” was a term we have more or less become familiar and comfortable with. That said, it fails to capture the true nature of what the word really meant (and as such, conveyed). The word that we so often refer to as “unclean” is actually derived from tame' in Hebrew. This would not have simply meant unclean, it would have meant that something much stronger, something to the effect of ethically and religiously impure or foul in a religious sense:—defiled. This was no minor thing.
Most importantly, we know that this woman had AMAZING faith. She had heard about this man who was transforming people. She believed that if she were just able to get close enough, if she could touch the hem of his garment, she would be healed.
Let’s look at the passage in Mark (starting a bit before we see her enter the scene so we can appreciate the gravity of this story):
21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23 and implored him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live." 24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I will be made well." 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?" 31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'" 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." (ESV)
Can we just start here, in verses 27 and 28?
“She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I will be made well."
Let me tell you, if I have not said it before, I don’t do change well. At all. So much so that I drive over an hour to see the doctor I have had for a decade (actually, our entire family does). Now, while that seems like a pretty massive inconvenience for me, it is worth it, I have a car (as does my husband), our kids love her as much as I do, She is in network, etc. That hour is worth it because we trust the care she gives. This woman, who had absolutely no resources (as in none, not she didn’t have a car and a bank account), simply heard how amazing Jesus was and followed Him in search of healing. Talk about faith (it seems unimaginable to a person who cannot manage to switch a new doctor that is in town).
Did you see what happened next? She was healed.
Let me repeat that.
SHE.WAS.HEALED.
Not a bit later. Not after she asked. Immediately. She believed and she sought Jesus, and she was healed on the spot.
It would be easy to leave off there. I mean, this was no small thing. She immediately was made whole. But if we didn’t keep reading, we would miss so much.
Most importantly, we know that this woman had AMAZING faith. She had heard about this man who was transforming people. She believed that if she were just able to get close enough, if she could touch the hem of his garment, she would be healed.
Let’s look at the passage in Mark (starting a bit before we see her enter the scene so we can appreciate the gravity of this story):
21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23 and implored him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live." 24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I will be made well." 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?" 31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'" 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." (ESV)
Can we just start here, in verses 27 and 28?
“She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I will be made well."
Let me tell you, if I have not said it before, I don’t do change well. At all. So much so that I drive over an hour to see the doctor I have had for a decade (actually, our entire family does). Now, while that seems like a pretty massive inconvenience for me, it is worth it, I have a car (as does my husband), our kids love her as much as I do, She is in network, etc. That hour is worth it because we trust the care she gives. This woman, who had absolutely no resources (as in none, not she didn’t have a car and a bank account), simply heard how amazing Jesus was and followed Him in search of healing. Talk about faith (it seems unimaginable to a person who cannot manage to switch a new doctor that is in town).
Did you see what happened next? She was healed.
Let me repeat that.
SHE.WAS.HEALED.
Not a bit later. Not after she asked. Immediately. She believed and she sought Jesus, and she was healed on the spot.
It would be easy to leave off there. I mean, this was no small thing. She immediately was made whole. But if we didn’t keep reading, we would miss so much.
“And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?’ And he looked around to see who had done it.”
Now, I have to start by saying that when I read that Jesus immediately sensed what had happened, turned around, and asked who touched His garments, two thoughts scream in my head. First, I think about my daily life. As a mom of four, there are a lot of times when managing the chaos feels like a task for a small army. In a crowd, I feel the panic of not knowing where each of them are, because I know that there are so many distractions that I could not possibly track it all. Yet Jesus immediately knew.
Second, He turns and questions who touched His garment. This is probably one of my favorite miracles of Jesus, so while I have read it (in each of the four gospels), I always was a little puzzled by Him asking who touched His garments. Was he making a point that the woman needed to admit her faith? Was he making a statement to the crowd? He had to know, right? Going back to that Mom of four thing...there are a lot of times when I ask my children who did something, knowing the answer the whole time. I always have a reason, the question is never unintentional.
It is in reading the totality of that exchange, and also reading the story in Matthew 9 of Jesus healing the Paralytic, that I got an idea. See, in that story, it is clear that Jesus knew the thoughts of the scribes. Not only that, He responded to those thoughts aloud.
With that in mind, can we take a second look at that exchange?
“And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'"
At this point, the disciples had given up a lot to follow Jesus. They had witnessed more than one miracle. Yet we read example after example when they say “but, are you sure, Jesus?”
This amazing woman had followed a crowd, risking everything. She didn’t ask. There was not hesitation. She knew she would be healed, and she was. Yet the men who had done the same kept doubting and questioning at every turn.
What does this beautiful woman, now healed, do? I would assume she could have remained silent. It would have been a lot safer...after all, a woman who was an outcast raising her hand and saying “yeah, that was me”? Not the most likely answer you would expect. And yet that is exactly what she did.
And here is where it is the most beautiful. Here is where it is so amazing that I can barely contain myself. How did Jesus respond?
“And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."
Now, once more, it could be easy to overlook this. But y’all, this is the most beautiful part. This woman had been an outcast for 12 years. Let that sink in. If she had been married, she was likely divorced by her husband a long time ago. She was impure, ethically and religiously. Her life was so in the fringe, we cannot even fathom it. She had lived in utter desolation and desperation. She searched and followed Jesus looking to be healed physically. Did that happen? Definitely. But Jesus healed her in a way that she never could have imagined. He made her whole. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually.
She stepped out in a kind of faith that I cannot even imagine, and she was made complete. She was seen. She was loved.
Dear one, today, will you join me in stepping out in faith like this woman? Maybe the hurt you are carrying is physical. Perhaps it is emotional. It could be your finances, or an addiction, or anything else. Whatever the pain, you have come to believe you are unclean. Beyond unclean. You have told yourself that you are so broken that there is nothing left for you. But dear one, there is One who is there...One who so desires to make you whole that He would give anything, including Himself, just for you. Will you join me following Him and finding our healing?
Second, He turns and questions who touched His garment. This is probably one of my favorite miracles of Jesus, so while I have read it (in each of the four gospels), I always was a little puzzled by Him asking who touched His garments. Was he making a point that the woman needed to admit her faith? Was he making a statement to the crowd? He had to know, right? Going back to that Mom of four thing...there are a lot of times when I ask my children who did something, knowing the answer the whole time. I always have a reason, the question is never unintentional.
It is in reading the totality of that exchange, and also reading the story in Matthew 9 of Jesus healing the Paralytic, that I got an idea. See, in that story, it is clear that Jesus knew the thoughts of the scribes. Not only that, He responded to those thoughts aloud.
With that in mind, can we take a second look at that exchange?
“And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'"
At this point, the disciples had given up a lot to follow Jesus. They had witnessed more than one miracle. Yet we read example after example when they say “but, are you sure, Jesus?”
This amazing woman had followed a crowd, risking everything. She didn’t ask. There was not hesitation. She knew she would be healed, and she was. Yet the men who had done the same kept doubting and questioning at every turn.
What does this beautiful woman, now healed, do? I would assume she could have remained silent. It would have been a lot safer...after all, a woman who was an outcast raising her hand and saying “yeah, that was me”? Not the most likely answer you would expect. And yet that is exactly what she did.
And here is where it is the most beautiful. Here is where it is so amazing that I can barely contain myself. How did Jesus respond?
“And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."
Now, once more, it could be easy to overlook this. But y’all, this is the most beautiful part. This woman had been an outcast for 12 years. Let that sink in. If she had been married, she was likely divorced by her husband a long time ago. She was impure, ethically and religiously. Her life was so in the fringe, we cannot even fathom it. She had lived in utter desolation and desperation. She searched and followed Jesus looking to be healed physically. Did that happen? Definitely. But Jesus healed her in a way that she never could have imagined. He made her whole. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually.
She stepped out in a kind of faith that I cannot even imagine, and she was made complete. She was seen. She was loved.
Dear one, today, will you join me in stepping out in faith like this woman? Maybe the hurt you are carrying is physical. Perhaps it is emotional. It could be your finances, or an addiction, or anything else. Whatever the pain, you have come to believe you are unclean. Beyond unclean. You have told yourself that you are so broken that there is nothing left for you. But dear one, there is One who is there...One who so desires to make you whole that He would give anything, including Himself, just for you. Will you join me following Him and finding our healing?
Also...I made quite a few assertions in this article and would never want to not give credit where it is due!
