The Woman with an Issue of Blood

We hear this passage of scripture a few times whenever we do either our daily readings or within the church lectionary. But I think we must look at the intense faith this woman had. Let us understand one thing, the title, "Issue of Blood" is an understatement. I mean by no means is it wrong but it is clearly not as graphic as it can be. This woman most likely had a hemorrhage which in short is a ruptured blood vessel that causes either internal or outward bleeding. Now we can understand this woman had excruciating pain and moreover she was hurting emotionally. According to Leviticus 15:25-27 she was considered unclean and was not allowed within the temple. She was considered untouchable for no-one wanted to be ritually unclean. She was most likely living outside of society being that anything she sat upon was considered unclean. She was shunned by society and could not even worship her God in the temple. For this reason we can understand the sheer desperation whenever she heard of this Nazarene that was doing miracles. "Only if I could touch the dust that he treads upon, I would be healed." She most likely thought. We have to remember that she has no family, no husband, nobody to love and take care of her. She needed something, someone to take this agony away, mentally and physically. Then the man named Jesus comes and is walking, crowded by His followers and others looking for His healing. She comes through the crowd and most likely the crowd moved away from her, that is how repulsed they where of her. She then reaches as far as she can and touches Jesus' cloak. Once she touched His cloak everything changed. Her physical pain went away, her uncleanliness was done with, her identity as the, "Woman with the issue of blood" is dead. She now is the woman who was brought out of exile and slavery to her illness. She now is the woman who God healed through the means of His Son, sound familiar? Jesus turns and says, "Who touched me?" We can understand that Jesus knew of the woman, He knows her trails, pains, mental struggles. But whenever He says, "Who touched me?" its a question not because He does not know but because we do not know. He actually says who touched Him after the woman trembles and explains herself He calls her "Daughter." What a beautiful sight to behold! We can understand that Her status not only changes to the woman who was healed by Jesus but the daughter of our Lord! How can this be? Galatians 3:26 makes it very clear, "So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith." Jesus confirms this inclination that we are children of God (whom Jesus is) by faith by His next words, "thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." So what can we learn from this passage and the woman? Well there's a few things, for one the woman was like us before faith. We where unclean, enemies of the law, untouchable because of our filth. But through faith, we are made whole and well. Through faith we are made sons and daughters of the One true God. We are no longer strangers to the temple of God but are the very temple itself (1 Corinthians 3:16). We are loved, cherished, and most importantly God invites us to His house to eat with us and invites us to sit with Him at His holy banquet! So within this let us look at the woman with the issue of blood as a great show of Christian life and virtue, if we can just touch the edge of His cloak, we will be made whole.