Have you ever felt like a side note in the story of God’s work in the world, incidental in the work of the church, or the spiritual beggar of Jesus’ time and attention? The bible gospel writers reveal Jesus as an intentional savior to whom no one is incidental. The people that our culture refuses to see, Jesus seeks and saves.
A Woman with an Issue
Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. Luke 8:40-42
Jesus had been asked to leave the previous town because of the miracles he performed. He has now returned (the assumption is to Capernaum), and a crowd has surrounded him. Jairus is one of the leaders of the local synagogue, esteemed, respected in the community. Falling at Jesus’ feet is a sign of desperation. But he’s about to lose his only child and his request is urgent.
As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. Luke 8:43
According to Jewish law, Jews were forbidden to come into contact with gentiles (non-Jews), demoniacs, graves, blood, or the dead. Luke writes that Jesus came into contact with each of these forbidden elements within two chapters.
All three synoptic gospels tell this story of the woman with a bleeding disorder, likely involving menstruation. She was ritually unclean according to societal and religious standards. She couldn’t be with family and friends, couldn’t attend synagogue to worship, was an outcast of society. She invested everything she owned in whatever medical treatments were available in the first century and nothing helped her.
Jesus got up and went with him (Jairus), and so did his disciples. Mt 9:19.
Jesus stopped what he was doing and started walking to Jairus’s house. They now had a priority to save Jairus’ daughter. They now moved with intention and mission. Their purpose is urgent.
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Mt 9:20-21
Was the unnamed woman with a bleeding issue superstitious? Many in ancient cultures believed that a powerful person’s clothing held power. Or was she scared to draw attention to herself? She’d been living in the shadows of her community for twelve years. She was supposed to stay away, touch no one, keep her problems to herself. When you’ve lived your life being invisible and unseen, being seen is terrifying.
Jesus was on an urgent mission for an important person. Maybe she didn’t want to interrupt Jesus and his mission with her problems. Jairus’ daughter was more important in that moment.
“Who touched me? “Jesus asked.
“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’” Mark 5:31
Jairus was an important man in urgent need. The disciples needed to keep Jesus on task. This woman was incidental. She wasn’t part of anyone’s mission statement. She wasn’t a key demographic for their mission.
Yet, Jesus stopped and sought her out.
We see this theme many times in the gospel record. Jesus miraculously feeds the hungry even though he’s tired from teaching all day. Jesus comes across an unexpected demon possessed man as he is traveling into a city and heals him. Jesus is interrupted in his healing of a house full of people by a man who was lowered through the roof. Jesus is interrupted by children wanting to say hello and stops what he is doing to greet them.
What we label as incidental interruption outside the parameters of our priorities, Jesus intentionally welcomes.
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” Mk 5:34.
The disciples prioritized the dying daughter of an important leader.
Jesus rewarded the faith of an outcast woman.
Society had given up on the needs of this woman and cast her aside.
Jesus commanded her to “go in peace”, meaning in the Greek wholeness and completeness of life.
Society refused to accept her and give her a place to belong.
Jesus commanded that she be free from her suffering physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.
This woman was not an interruption of the daily mission. The desire of Christ to seek and save the lost isn’t on a calendar or to-do list. All who come to Him are accepted. All who call on Him are saved.
May we see ourselves as the beloved children of God and not an interruption. May we see others as those for whom Christ seeks to save.
To find out what happened to Jairus’ daughter, click here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+8&version=NIV
Copyright TA Boland 2024
Image: Unsplash
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