A Healing and a Raising

One of my favorite stories in the gospels is the account found in Matthew 9:18-26, and Mark 5:21-43. It’s the story of Jesus healing a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years and raising a synagogue ruler’s daughter from the dead.

This story can be found in both these gospels and in Luke as well. Interestingly, the stories are always paired together. No gospel writer wanted to leave on in without the other. While Jesus is on the way to heal this girl who is about to die, a woman touches Jesus in the middle of the crowd. Something that the people there would have known that we don’t automatically pick up on when we read it is what this woman had just done was SCANDALOUS.

For the past twelve years she’s been bleeding, thus making her ceremonially unclean. If anyone touches her, they are rendered ceremonially unclean. When she goes out in the streets she has to declare herself unclean so that people will know to be sure not to touch her. She’s been ostracized by her community because of this illness, and she places her entire faith on Jesus healing her. She sneaks through the crowd, RENDERING EVERYONE SHE TOUCHED UNCLEAN, all to get to Jesus. Then she TOUCHED THE RABBI—making him ceremonially unclean. But with Jesus, he made HER clean.

Jesus publically healed this woman, because this is what she would need. He declared publically in front of everyone who had been avoiding her for the past 12 years, “She is now clean, welcome her back!” You see, Jesus is about complete healing. The word used in the Greek in Mark means “saved” spiritually. Jesus addressed her problem, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and socially. Jesus is about complete healing.

He then goes on to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead. This time, he acts in secrecy. Could it be that he didn’t want that little girl to grow up as the freak who was dead, but came back to life? Some would argue that he kept it a secret like so many other things in order to preserve his secret of being the Messiah. I think it could be both, but I know this for SURE—when Jesus raised her from the dead, SHE was his concern, just as the woman who was bleeding was his concern, NOT seeming impressive, or making a statement. Jesus healed them to make them whole.