He calls her “daughter".

04Mar
Now there was a woman 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 round 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.’  
- Mark 5:21-43 

How my heart goes out to the woman in Mark 5:25. To truly understand her story, you must understand the context in which she was living. Under Judaic custom in this time, women were considered unclean during times of bleeding. Typically, that meant a respite from mixed company for seven days a month during menses, followed by a ritual bath which “cleansed” you and allowed you to return to family and community. But this unnamed woman had been hemorrhaging for 12 years. 12 years considered unclean - likely without physical contact, without being permitted to enter the synagogue, without being permitted to engage in community life. How alone and rejected she must have felt.

We know too she had done her very best to remedy the situation. She has spent all she had on doctors remedies without result. So now poor and outcast, she with great faith thinks that if she can but touch the hem of Jesus’s cloak she will be healed. Of course touching Jesus knowingly would render him too unclean. But this is not what happens. She is healed. He notices that something miraculous has happened. She confesses, knowing that her actions may very well have consequences. Jesus is a famed rabbi and she is an unclean outcast. Perhaps retribution is in store. But no.

He calls her “daughter”. He names her, owns her as his own, his beloved. And bids her go in peace. After twelve years an outcast, how wonderful that loving grace must have felt. How transformative to be able to leave shame and rejection behind and rejoin the community.

We all have our periods of feeling the outcast. May we too have faith to reach out and touch but the edge of Christ’s cloak and receive his loving healing and embrace back into the fold.

Musical Reflection - You've God a Friend/Precious Lord - Aretha Franklin

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy; Be gracious to all who have gone astray from thy ways and bring them again, with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable trust of they Word, Jesus Christ. Amen.
GospelLent

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