Reading: Mark 5:21-43
Context: What social barriers does the bleeding woman overcome to reach Jesus, and why is this significant?
This scripture does not indicate the social barrier, but we can infer the following: she has a disease, which doesn’t make her socially acceptable for starters. The nature of the disease, apparently, would make her unclean, so she shouldn’t be seen in public. Touching the garment of Jesus would be considered scandalous and outrageous cos the belief was that those touched by the unclean would be unclean themselves. She’s a social outcast, and she should know her place and deal with the fact that she’s worse off for looking to get her problem sorted, only for it not to work out. She’s a woman, that also ain’t becoming of someone who wishes to approach this guy. Seen in that light, the amount she’s overcome to reach out speaks volumes about the level of faith she has that one touch could make all the difference. It explains Jesus’ own commentary on the situation, namely that her faith has made her whole. And as I reflect on that, there’s the nudge to consider what level of faith can be exercised to trust Jesus. And also, there’s a challenge of how we can demonstrate and declare, for the benefit of other social outcasts, that their issues can be solved by reaching out to touch Jesus, who is near them?
In first-century Jewish society, a woman approaching a rabbi — in public, uninvited, without the mediation of a husband or male relative — was itself an act that would raise eyebrows and clench jaws. Layer on top of that the twelve years of haemorrhaging, which under the Levitical code rendered her perpetually ritually unclean (Leviticus 15:25-27), and you start to appreciate what she was carrying before she ever took a single step toward Jesus. It wasn’t just a physical condition. It was a sentence. Twelve years of isolation. Twelve years of being untouchable. Twelve years of being told, in effect, that she didn’t qualify.
She had also spent everything she had on physicians who left her worse off, not better. So not only is she socially marginalised, she is financially spent and medically hopeless. She has nothing left to lose. And that, right there, might be the very thing that unlocks her faith. When you’ve exhausted every other option, the audacity to reach for Jesus becomes a lot less surprising.
Seen in that light, the amount she’s overcome to reach out speaks volumes about the faith she has that a single touch could make all the difference. It explains Jesus’ own commentary on the situation: her faith has made her whole. And as I reflect on that, there’s a nudge to consider what level of faith is required to trust Jesus. And also, there’s a challenge of how we can demonstrate and declare, for the benefit of other social outcasts, that their issues can be solved by reaching out to touch Jesus, who is near them?
Someone might feel like they don’t qualify. They feel like they’ve been told — by circumstance, by history, by the voice in their own head — that the door to Jesus isn’t for them. This woman’s story is a loud and clear rebuttal of that lie. She reached, He responded, and the power that went out of Him was not accidental. He knew. He always knows. And He is never contaminated by what comes to Him, broken and desperate. He is only ever transformative.
Content: How does Jesus treat both the synagogue leader and the unclean woman with equal dignity?
What a fascinating word – dignity. Let’s get ourselves a running definition or walking, if we prefer the strolling approach. Dignity is about worth, value and honour. To treat people with dignity is to confer on them a sense that they are of worth and value and should be duly honoured. Jesus exercises this in His insistence that He’s going to attend to his daughter even when told that the girl is dead. Jesus also dignifies the unclean woman by reassuring her that the actions she took were all good with Him. It’s not a matter of it being the same dignity – it’s the matter that He dignifies those who approach Him in faith. He’s not fussed about status. He’s here to serve those who will place their faith in Him. That’s hugely reassuring for people of all walks of life. They have access to Him as they come to Him by faith. It should also inform our own approach to ministry that we shouldn’t be fussed if the person comes from a religious or non-religious background. As long as they are in need and we have the capacity to serve, it should be our delight to offer them the opportunity.
Jairus is a synagogue ruler. He’s got a name, a title, a position, and a community that respects him. When he falls at Jesus’ feet, it is a remarkable moment of humility from a man of standing — but he still has standing. He has access. He has a voice. He can call on Jesus in public and expect to be heard. The bleeding woman has none of that. She is anonymous, at least initially. She’s navigating the crowd, hoping nobody notices her, hoping the touch is enough, hoping she can slip away before anyone makes a scene.
Jesus exercises dignity in His insistence that He’s going to attend to Jairus’ daughter even when told that the girl is dead. Jesus also dignifies the unclean woman by reassuring her that the actions she took were all good with Him. It’s not a matter of it being the same dignity — it’s the matter that He dignifies those who approach Him in faith. He’s not fussed about status. He’s here to serve those who will place their faith in Him.
What’s worth noticing is that Jesus stops. He’s on His way to a dying girl, and He stops. There’s an urgency in Jairus’ request, and yet Jesus pauses the mission to ask who touched Him. His disciples think it’s a daft question given the size of the crowd — but Jesus isn’t asking because He doesn’t know. He’s asking because He wants her to be known. He wants her to step forward. He wants to dignify her not just with healing but with acknowledgement. He calls her “daughter.” In a world that had reduced her to a condition, He restores her to a relationship. That’s not just dignity — that’s covenant language.
That’s hugely reassuring for people of all walks of life. They have access to Him as they come to Him by faith. It should also inform our own approach to ministry: we shouldn’t be fussed about a person’s background. As long as they are in need and we have the capacity to serve, it should be our delight to offer them the opportunity. The well-placed leader and the nameless outsider receive the same attention, the same care, the same word. If that shapes how Jesus does ministry, it ought to shape how we do it too.
Concept: Jesus links healing with faith in both stories. What is the relationship between faith and God’s power?
There is much that can be said in response to this question. At the heart of it, there is a trust in someone greater than us to deliver something we need. It is not simply acknowledging that there is a God and He is good. It is reaching out to the good God and asking for His goodness to be the portion in a given situation. Exercising that trust and acting on that reach puts us in touch with God, who is more than happy to work on our behalf. The challenge remains: who will we reach out to when we find ourselves in times of trouble? When we’re in need, are we exercising that trust? When we’re desperate, is that leading us to remember Jesus, who can heal with a touch and restore with a word? Is that our attitude? Is that how we live? It’s certainly what scripture encourages us to activate. It’s certainly what God invites us to every day. It’s certainly what it means to follow Jesus.
There’s a temptation to read this and conclude that faith is the mechanism — that if we work up enough of it, God’s power activates like flicking a switch. But that’s a misreading of what’s happening here. The woman doesn’t produce healing by her faith. She accesses Jesus by her faith, and it’s Jesus who is the source of the power. The faith is the reach. The power is His. Hebrews 11 is full of people who exercised extraordinary faith — and not all of them received what they were hoping for in this life. Faith doesn’t command God. Faith connects us to God, and God, in His wisdom and love, responds in ways that serve His purposes and our deepest good.
What this passage makes clear is that faith moves us toward Jesus, and Jesus moves toward our need. There is a beautiful reciprocity in it. She pressed through the crowd; He felt power leave Him. She reached; He responded. There is something profoundly personal about the way God interacts with genuine faith — it’s not a transaction, it’s a relationship.
Exercising that trust and acting on that reach puts us in touch with God, who is more than happy to work on our behalf. The challenge remains: who will we reach out to when we find ourselves in times of trouble? When we’re in need, are we exercising that trust? When we’re desperate, is that leading us to remember Jesus, who can heal with a touch and restore with a word? Is that our attitude? Is that how we live? It’s certainly what scripture encourages us to activate. It’s certainly what God invites us to every day. It’s certainly what it means to follow Jesus.
Conclusions: How does persistent faith, even in desperate circumstances, influence how we approach Jesus?
My wife is persistent. She is doggedly persistent. If she catches a whiff of something, there is almost nothing anyone can do to stop her from pursuing the scent until she resolves the matter. She will persevere in every effort to dissuade her from what she senses. What’s at stake with persistent faith is the idea that there’s a whiff of something – it’s actually the scent of the Spirit that leads us to Jesus, who presents us to the presence of God, where we can live the life He has in store for us. That requires diligent persistence – leaving no stone unturned until that which is of God is of us. We have got to see the prize as being of greater worth than the distractions that seek to put us off the scent. This is why it is not ask and it will be given – it’s keep on asking and it will be given. This is why it’s not seek, and you will find – it’s keep on seeking, and you will find. It’s not knock, and the door opens – it’s keep on knocking, and the door opens. Persistent faith develops persevering prayer and progressive appreciation of the presence and power of God. This is what marks us out as people of the kind of faith that God applauds. God help us to develop this faith not primarily for the good it will give us in healing or provision, but primarily for the deeper and wider relationship we cultivate with You as a result.
What’s at stake with persistent faith is the idea that there’s a whiff of something — it’s actually the scent of the Spirit that leads us to Jesus, who presents us to the presence of God, where we can live the life He has in store for us. That requires diligent persistence — leaving no stone unturned until that which is of God is of us. We have got to see the prize as being of greater worth than the distractions that seek to put us off the scent.
Persistent faith develops persevering prayer and progressive appreciation of the presence and power of God. This is what marks us out as people of the kind of faith that God applauds. God help us to develop this faith not primarily for the good it will give us in healing or provision, but primarily for the deeper and wider relationship we cultivate with You as a result.
Next time:
Episode Ten: Rejection and Mission
Reading – Mark 6:1-29
Jesus encourages us in our faith journey to persist in asking, seeking and knocking and see what results from that. This is another reason to get the Word In so we can get the Word Out.
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
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