Are you tired my sweet sister? Weak? Feeling alone and that no one understands what you are facing? Physically drained from the burden of Pain? Or maybe drained from grieving a loss? Are you so weary that it takes extra energy to do normal everyday activities? I have been there my sweet sister and so has our sister we study today.
Our tired sister reached out in faith and she was healed. She traveled 30 miles to touch Jesus despite a twelve year long illness. She traveled alone as she was considered “unclean” because she continued to bleed. I hope and prayer this small study will bring you one step closer on your journey to touching Jesus. May you find healing for your weary heart, body and soul.
Please join me in reading about our sister in Mark 5:25-34
Read this dramatic interaction again slowly as you put yourself in her lonely and desperate shoes.
- What do you think her ailment was? (twelve years of bleeding so she is referred to as the hemorrhaging woman)
During our discussion one thought was perhaps she had fibroids or was in perimenopause? Could her bleeding have been from polyps or colon cancer? This is all speculation as the bible gives no more detail except that she has bleed mysteriously for 12 years.
- How old was the child who was ill in the story surrounded this one? Look up Luke 2:41-52 and see how old Jesus was when he was found in the temple teaching?
Yes! The answer is 12 for both cases. Twelve is the age in Jewish tradition that a young boy becomes a man and is responsible for himself spiritual. More on this to follow. I have found that numbers have great significance and importance in God’s word.
- Do you think Jesus knew who touched him? Why did he ask the question and what did his question give her the choice to do?
Is God all-knowing? Yes…and Jesus is “God with skin” so of course Jesus knew who touched him. He also knew her heart and all her sufferings. The mysterious bleeding and the time, money and dashed hopes she had spent on doctors. How she bore this alone as she was considered in this culture to be “unclean” and if she were to touch someone else they would be considered “unclean” too. She was most likely looked down on as in these times it was believed that her “sin” must have caused this illness. She not only needed physical healing but confirmation that God had not abandoned her and was not punishing her with this ailment. By asking this question, she needed to exercise her faith once again by professing in public what she had done.
- Do you think it took more faith to touch his garment or to profess out loud what she had done?
Absolutely. It took more faith to publicly profess that she had violated “religious law” and put others at risk to becoming “unclean” as well and risk a rebuking or even having the power be taken away. She showed great faith in not running off with her miracle (stealing a miracle) but staying and trusting that Jesus would be kind and loving.
- How did Jesus address Her? The only place in scripture where he used this word to address a woman?
Daughter. Yes.. he called her Daughter. This is huge sister…don’t rush through this.
If he calls her daughter, than he is saying that He is her father. If she is His daughter, she has rights to a royal inheritance as He is the King of Kings. She has the right to come forward and ask for healing. God says in His word, that a Father will give to his children what they need when they come to him. (Luke 11:11)
How thirsty she must have been to hear that she had faith, when she had been judged and looked down upon for so long. And to add insult to injury, she had been blamed for her illness.
Jesus stopped his travels for a woman. An unclean woman who was rejected, alone and considered an outcast.
He not only healed her instantly, but he called her “daughter” in front of her accusers. He saw her heart and let everyone know that it was not her sins that caused the illness but her faith in Jesus Christ that resulted in her healing.
- What might the number 12 have to do with all of this? After twelve years of suffering what may have been happening within her soul?
In Biblical times a young boy is considered to be a man at after the age of 12…think Bar mitzvah. Bar means “son” and mitzvah means “commandment.” So a young Jewish boy who turns 13 (Son of Commandment) is now spiritual responsible to know and follow the commandments. (no longer are his parents responsible for him spiritually.) So after 12 years of growth through suffering, she is now ready to be called not a daughter who still has the weak faith of a child but a daughter who has the strong faith of a woman. She is now a mature womanly daughter who has a deep faith that has been tested and survived. Picture a mature tree that has been through a drought and its roots have gone down deep in the ground searching for water. She persisted and did not give up until she found the living God who came to heal the sick.
Man……does Jesus love his woman.
- Please look up James 4:8
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Look this up and underline it in your bible. Put next to it today’s date.
So my dear sister sister. This is what I hope you gleaned from this study.
- God wants us to draw near to him and reach out with our hands for Jesus.
- God see’s your suffering and notices you. He stops and turns to you and looks in your heart with kindness and compassion.
- Sometimes God doesn’t heal right away as with this woman of 12 years of suffering. Sometimes God waits and “heals our bodies in heaven”.
- She was growing in her faith during this dry desert time. God is more concerned with our spiritual health than our physical health. Our souls will last forever, while our bodies are wasting away in this fallen world.
- Drawing near to Jesus can mean prayer and reading scripture, repenting/going to confession, attending church and spending time with your sweet sisters.
- How to be healthy physically? Eat healthy foods and exercise.
- How to be healthy spiritually? Eat the word of God……the bible and the Eucharist. Exercise your faith as this woman did as she drew near to Jesus.
Pray and ask with faith for Physically healing, but be most concerned is your spiritual healing.
because……………Man……Jesus loves His Women.
