Woman with the Flow of Blood
Woman With the Flow of Blood
from
Praying with the Women of the Bible
by
Bridget Mary Meehan
the eighth day after her discharge was over, a woman was required to bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the meeting tent. The priest then offered these animals in atonement for her unclean discharge.
The story describes her economic destitution and the failure of the medical professionals to treat her successfully: “…after long and painful treatment from various doctors, she had spent all she had without getting better” (Mk 5:26, The Inclusive New Testament). Luke, whom scholars think might have been a doctor, leaves out her impoverished state. He simply states: “[she]…found no one who could heal her” (Lk 8:43, The Inclusive New Testament). While in Mark’s account the woman is talking with Jesus alone, in Luke’s account “[s]he explained in front of the crowd why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed” (Lk 8:47, The Inclusive New Testament). Matthew gives a brief version of Mark’s account (Mt 9:18–26). (See Rose Sallberg Kam, Their Stories, Our Stories, p. 187.)
As the story unfolds, the woman approaches Jesus. “She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she told herself: ‘If I can touch even the hem, I will be well again’” (Mk 5:27–28, The Inclusive New Testament). Immediately she was cured of her hemorrhage. After her healing, Jesus asks who touched him. The disciples are baffled by Jesus’ query: “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” (Mk 5:31). But Jesus does not want the woman to be anonymous any longer. Too long she has suffered exclusion. Too long she has been unnamed—merely “the unclean one,” “the bleeding woman.” Jesus bids her stand forth as a person of importance—a Woman of Faith! She hesitates. Perhaps she has made Jesus “unclean”! But he hails her as a “faith-filled one”! By this healing action Jesus shows his compassion for the psychological damage she has suffered during those twelve years of ritual uncleanness. He heals her of the pain and shame of rejection, and at the same time repudiates the purification rituals of the law-bound religious structures of his time! Affectionately he calls her, “My Daughter,” and praises her, telling her that it is her faith that has brought about her healing. The action of Jesus suggests that there is nothing unholy which God has created; and therefore, the body is holy—whether woman’s or man’s!
The context of this healing story emphasizes its message. This cure is set within the story of a twelve-year-old girl, the daughter of Jairus, who is on the verge of beginning menses. A large crowd follows Jesus, Jairus, and the disciples. In the crowd a woman who has suffered a flow of blood for twelve years approaches him. Jairus, like the woman, takes decisive action. He comes to Jesus to ask for his daughter’s healing. “My little daughter is desperately sick. Come and lay your hands on her to make her better and save her life” (Mk
5:23, The Inclusive New Testament).
There is a fullness, a ripeness if you will, in the very number “twelve.” There were twelve tribes of Israel; Jesus chose twelve apostles because of the very perfection seen in the Judaic tradition in the number twelve. The twelve-year-old girl, just the age to begin menstruation, like the hemorrhaging older woman, receives new life. Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza comments on the meaning of these stories: “The life-creating powers of women manifested in ‘the flow of blood’ are neither ‘bad’ nor cut off in death but are ‘restored’ so that women can ‘go and live in shalom’ in the eschatological well-being and happiness of God.”1
Jesus touches the dead girl, and the woman touches Jesus—both making him ritually unclean (Nm 19:11–13). Like the hemorrhaging woman, Jairus has exhausted all his
resources. Unlike the daughter whose father acts for her benefit, this woman takes responsibility for her own life and breaks the paternalistic barriers imposed by her religious tradition. “These two interlocking healing stories,” observes Marie-Eloise Rosenblatt, “confront religious-cultic mindsets which prevent persons (the woman, the synagogue official, the household) from self-appropriating their own selves or enabling others to do the same.”2 In Jesus’ time these two stories were shocking. “In a world where girls were chattel and where menstruating women were forbidden access to the well and the marketplace,” comments Rose Sallberg Kam, “Jesus matter-of-factly summons two ‘dead’ women to fullness of life.”3
The story of this risk-taking woman with a hemorrhage reveals a woman’s dignity as a person in the face of religious and social discrimination. She is a model of courage, a shaker and a mover, who takes decisive action and assumes personal responsibility for her healing. Her journey to wholeness challenges her society’s blood taboo. This woman of faith reminds us that when we reach out and touch God’s power, miracles can occur that not only heal us but also transform oppressive religious rules, social taboos, and cultural norms. Surely, this woman’s story is repeated in women’s stories across the globe. So few of the world’s resources are spent on women’s health, education, employment, and well-being. Women and children still suffer the brunt of world poverty. Women and children suffer the most from the devastation of wars started and maintained by men gluttonous for power and territory. Women who do jobs similar to those of men do not receive equivalent salaries and benefits. In some cultures, women are subject to a brutal form of female circumcision, and baby girls are left to die soon after birth. Too many women are still second-class citizens and continue to be stigmatized for their femaleness by society. Into this scene, more than ever, both women and their oppressors need Jesus to come and set us human beings free! We need this bold woman’s story to inspire us in impossible circumstances to seek our liberation and claim our healing: “If I but touch Him, I will be well again!”
In a world where pornography is big business, and women’s bodies are exploited daily in the media, we need to appreciate the beauty and power of our bodies as reflections of the Holy One. Like the woman in the story and Jesus, women need to be emissaries of Spirit freedom. Let us shout it from the rooftops: “Our bodies are holy; we will not be used and abused anymore; we are free at last! We are taking responsibility for our lives and acting on our own behalf.”
Jesus, who liberated the Woman of Faith, also, in his moment of dying, is pointed to as life-giving in the “outflowing of water and blood!” (Jn 19:34). Let us, then, praise the daring Woman of Faith in this gospel story for showing us the life-giving power of woman’s flow of blood. And let us thank Jesus, the Life-giver, who puts right our jaded perspectives, who affirms for us our basic goodness, who pronounces us “blessed” in the face of our accusers, and who goes before us and with us into the eternal reign of God where all false values wither.
“Now there was a woman
Reflection
who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians,
and had spent all that she had;
and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus,
and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her hemorrhage stopped;
and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said,
‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him.
‘You see the crowd pressing in on you;
how can you say,“Who touched me?”’
He looked all around to see who had done it.
but the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well;
go in peace, and be healed of your disease’” (Mk 5:25–34).
Discussion Starters
1. Reflect on the connection between the blood taboo and gender discrimination in the story of the hemorrhaging woman. Is this an issue today? Why? Why not?
2. This risk-taking woman speaks up for herself, takes responsibility for her life, and acts on her own behalf. What are the lessons you might draw from this story?
3. Compare the story of the woman with a flow of blood with the story of Jairus. What similarities do you perceive? What differences do you perceive?
4. How can people today break paternalistic barriers imposed by patriarchy? What fears need to be overcome in order to achieve this breakthrough?
Prayer Experience
1. Be still. Breathe deeply. Relax your entire body. Imagine relaxation flowing through your body from head to toe. Focus on each area and imagine your body letting go of stress and becoming completely relaxed.
2. Read the story of the hemorrhaging woman as if you are the woman…. You are sick, lonely, and exhausted…. Your doctors have tried every treatment, but all have failed…. Now you are out of money…. You have been abandoned by family and friends…. Your flow of blood has cut you off from everyone…. You cannot touch anyone…and anything you touch is unclean…even anyone who touches anything you have touched is unclean…. You are fed up with the stigma…of being an outcast…. You refuse to act like a victim of other people’s prejudice…. You will not let this disease define or defeat you….
You have heard of a healer… Jesus…. You must meet him today…. You know if you can only get close enough to touch his clothes…you will be healed…. Energy surges through you…. You push your way through the crowds, ignoring the people who stare at you…. It has been this way for you for so many years…. In order to accomplish anything…you have always had to speak up for yourself…. Once again you must take action…. Out of breath, you finally get close enough to touch Jesus’ clothes…. As soon as you do, you feel healing power flowing through your whole body…. The bleeding stops…. You feel wonderful…. You are so excited that you want to jump up and down for joy…but you remain quiet…. Then you see Jesus looking at the crowd and hear him ask who touched him…. The disciples look perplexed…. There is such a large crowd of people pressing in on Jesus…. You hear people around you talking to one another and speculating about who it might be…. You wonder if they know it was you who touched Jesus…. Suddenly you are afraid…embarrassed…. Your heart beats rapidly…. You decide to go forward…. As you walk through the crowd…you keep your eyes on the healer…. Everyone is looking at you…. Finally, you are before Jesus…. You see in his eyes a love beyond all telling…. Jesus embraces you gently and says: “Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace and be healed of your disease.”… Something happens inside you when you reflect on your healing….
3. Be aware of any feelings, insights, thoughts, sensations, images that emerge as you reflect on the story of this risk-taking woman…. Dialogue with her about gender discrimination….
4. A woman’s blood is sacred…. Reflect on the life-creative power of menstruation….
Contemplate the mystery of the blood that flows through you…that flows through women you love…that connects women with one another in every generation….
5. Be conscious of ways you can take responsibility for your life now…. Think about decisive actions you can take to experience liberation… healing… and wholeness in your life now…. See yourself joining other women to share your journeys together….
6. Reflect on the paternalistic barriers imposed by religion and culture that oppress women…. Write down these barriers, place them in a fireproof container, burn them, and as the smoke rises, let your prayer rise up to God, like incense…. Then sing or dance alone or with others in celebration…. Be aware of concrete steps you can take in solidarity with others to challenge these norms…rules…
taboos…etc.
7. Compose a prayer, song, poem, dance, ritual, or artistic expression that celebrates the sacredness of women’s blood
—the power of menstruation.
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