A while
back i read and heard the story of the bleeding woman (as found in Mark 5:21-34)
a couple of times. i don’t think it was by accident that i came across this
Scripture multiple times. i guess there was something i needed to hear in this story :) And
indeed, i learned some things reading this Scripture. No, i’m not writing this
to imply that i know it all. That i have this Scripture all figured out. i have
not. And that’s part of the reason that i waited to write and post this. i
wanted to wait a bit and then read Mark 5 again, see if there’s something new
that comes up yet again. Let’s see.
First of
all, this woman’s been sick for 12 years. People back then did not get as old as they do
now. So 12 years of this woman’s life has been a long period of time.
Also, this
woman was not just struggling because she was ill. Because of her illness she was perceived as unclean and
therefore had to live on the outside of the social circle. She was not allowed
to go to church, for she would defile the home of God. There was this whole
list of prescriptions she had to live up to, here are a couple prescriptions,
as stated in Leviticus 15:19-30:
- “ When a
woman has a discharge of blood, and blood flows from her body, the uncleanness
of her monthly periods shall last for seven days.”
- “Anyone
who touches her will be unclean until evening.”
- “ Any bed
she lies on in this state will be unclean; any seat she sits on will be
unclean. Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothing and wash
himself and will be unclean until evening. If there is anything on the bed or
on the chair on which she sat, anyone who touches it will be unclean until
evening.”
- “The
children of Israel
are to be warned lest they (the bleeding women) defile the tabernacle that is
set among them.”
(retrieved from: http://www.womenpriests.org/traditio/unclean.asp)
So people
would most likely have left her alone, for they would not want to become
unclean themselves. i am sure this woman must have found herself to be very
lonely and desperate. And she felt broken. Verse 28 says that she thought by
herself if only she would touch but Jesus clothes she would be whole. This
indicates that she felt broken in a deep and desperate and lonely way.
She had
tried everything she could think of. She had spent all that she had but nothing
bettered. Yet she did not lay herself down somewhere and refused to get up. No, it was
the opposite. Where she encountered Jesus she must have been up and running. Doing the best
she could to make her day a good day. Maybe somewhere in her heart she’d have
the hope that a day like this would come. A day she would finally be able to
enter healing and freedom.
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When i read
this Scripture the first thing that really hit me was how the Dutch New Bible Translation
(NBV) spoke about the woman’s condition getting worse because of the
treatment of all the physicians she had visited. She first gave all her money
to them, only for her illness to get worse. To be honest, i can relate.
Physicians, therapists, they are just like ordinary people.. they do make
mistakes, or they are limited in their sources to get us better. They fall
short, they accidentally and willingly hurt us. And i can only say that i think
it is remarkable of this bleeding woman that she reaches out again. Literally.
Yet to another man. She may have lost her hope and faith a couple of times, or
even more than a couple of times. When the time was there, when Jesus was
there, she did not lose hope, she had faith, big enough to move a mountain and
she acted upon her faith. Even though she was not allowed to touch anyone. For anyone
who touched her would become unclean as well. She knew it had to be different
with Jesus. It doesn’t say how she knew. But she knew. Otherwise
she most likely would not have taken this gigantic step of faith!
Another
thing that spoke to me was the word Daughter: And
He said unto her “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be
whole of thy plague”. (Mark 5 verse 34, King James Version).
Jesus calls this bleeding woman daughter. This is the one and
only time in God’s Word that a woman is being called daughter by Jesus. Where
other people would leave this woman alone, saw her as unclean, where she was
tired, exhausted, ill, and out of money – Jesus listens to her story and He
gives her a name. He gave her an identity. From that moment on she was no
longer alone, but she had someone to call family. Someone she knew cared enough
for her and about her to call her His daughter. Jesus did not only gave this
bleeding woman healing, but He also gave her a place to call home. People to
call home.
What does this tell me? That Jesus not only has a say in my
circumstances. Yes, He has the power to heal me, He has the power to free me,
He has the power to turn things around. But there is more, there is so much
more. Jesus also wants to have a say in my (our) identity. He wants to tell me, who i
am. He wants to tell you who you are.
In the end our identity in Christ is way more important to Him than
whether or not we are healthy, happy, and healed.
Another thing that got me thinking was the resemblance between the story
of the bleeding woman and the daughter of Jairus. The daughter of Jairus was 12
years old, and the bleeding woman suffered for 12 years. Both were living on the
brink of life and death. And both were granted a new chance to live their life
to the fullest. To live and glorify the name of the Lord.
Are you a bleeding woman today?
Have you been bleeding for a long period of time and are you doubting
things will ever change?
Maybe you find comfort in this story? i sure do hope and pray so.
Not long
after i read Mark 5, i also read Ezekiel 16 and verse 6 stood out to me.
"And when I passed by you and saw you rolling about in your blood, I said
to you in your blood, Live! Yes, I said to you still in your natal blood, Live!"
The Lord
our God does not want us to be living our life rolling about in our blood. He
has something much better and bigger in store for us (Jeremiah 29:11). So allow
that to be of encouragement when you are knocked down and feel the weight of
the world press down on your shoulders. You are Loved. And the Lord sees you
bleeding and rolling in your blood. He sees it all. He knows it all. And He is
waiting for you to reach out, just to touch His garment.
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| http://hookedonthebook.com/jesus-heals-a-bleeding-woman-all-the-bible-miracles-for-kids/ |
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