The Woman with the Issue of Blood
There is no name for this woman with the issue of blood. Her faith and trust in the healing powers of Jesus is astonishing. We can use this unnamed woman as an example of faith and trust in our lives. Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48
Matthew 9:20 identifies this woman as, “a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years.” Mark 5:25 identifies her as “a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years.” Luke 8:43 “a woman having an issue of blood twelve years” Luke does tell us that she had spent all her money on physicians that could not heal her.
This condition made her ritually unclean meaning that she could not be touched by her husband or share in any of the annual worship celebrations that could help to uplift her in her state of misery. She was also barred from going into the temple to worship with the other woman. She couldn’t light the Sabbath evening candles or participate in the Passover meals which were the responsibility of the women to perform.
All three Gospel accounts tells us that she had suffered many things and had tried to get help from many physicians spending all that she had yet only grew worse. She could not be cured for twelve years she suffered. It must have been very hard to hope for help and then have that hope dashed when instead of getting better she got worse. She is to be commended with all the disappointments she never lost her faith in the healing power of Jesus Christ.
Leviticus 15:19-31 gives us a look at the laws concerning a woman having an issue. Telling us that during this time the woman is unclean. Not only was the woman unclean but everything she lies upon, everything she touches is unclean. All this has to be washed continuously. This also meant the woman had to be in her home continuously. Normal menstrual periods for healthy women were from five to seven days. This woman was bleeding for twelve years.
This burden for her must have been more than she could undertake. Her health must have deteriorated and the weakness debilitative. She could not go out; she could not even have physical contact with her family. Financially she had used up all her money on physicians who could not help her and only made matters worse.
Matthew 9: 21 and Mark 5:28 tells us that the woman knew that all she had to do was to touch the garment of Jesus and she would be made whole. She had faith that just by touching the hem of the garment of Jesus she would be healed. She knew that Jesus could do what none of the other physicians could do.
She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of His clothes, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. Mark 5: 29 states that “And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.” It must have been an immediate transformation that happened within her body with her healing. What a wonderful experience she had.
Jesus knew immediately that someone had touched Him because His strength power, ability to power for performing miracles had left Him. He asked who it was who touched Him. The woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her came and fell down before Jesus and she told the truth. This woman had great courage in confessing she had touched Jesus. This woman had broken the purity laws of the land in touching Jesus.
Anyone she touched in that crowd was unclean. The Jewish law required any person she had touched had to go through a ritual cleansing. This meant bathing, changing their clothes and being alone until the evening.
The kindness of Jesus was so apparent to the women in all three of the Gospels. Matthew 9:22 says “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.” Then in Mark 5:34 “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” Luke 8:48 “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.” What a loving Savior our Jesus is.
It was for twelve years that this woman had to live in an isolated state. It is in the say way we can live in isolation from the LORD God and from others. It is the blood of Christ that is our only hope for cleansing from that impurity of sin. It is in faith of knowing that Jesus is our only salvation that brings us into kinship with this woman.
It was so important that Jesus told this courageous woman that it was her faith that had make her whole. There are many things in our lives that can leave us physically and spiritually weak and frail. The faith of this heroic woman can be a marvelous example for us when we are overwhelmed and fragile in times of heartbreak, bitterness, infirmities, and sins that are a result of exhaustion and despair.
Cite Article Source
MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “The Woman with the Issue of Blood:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Feb 2015.< https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2234,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015, February) “The Woman with the Issue of Blood:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2234,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015) “The Woman with the Issue of Blood:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (February), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2234, (accessed).
