As we finish up Mark 5 (verses 21-43)we find two powerful stories in Jesus' life wrapped together in a beautiful tapestry of love and power that can shouts the good news of God's kingdom in a way that is so often over looked by many of us. In fact the beauty of this passage is something that I had missed until I was studying this passage for this blog.
As I began reading this passage, I felt God really impress upon me the fact that this event had everything to do with the fact that God's kingdom is not a kingdom based on gender, age, or race. (Though race isn't in this passage, it can be spelled out clearly with a study of John 4)
As I read this passage from Mark 5 I find in it mainly the story of a sick little girl and a tortured woman. First lets understand the right's of women in the society in which Jesus grew up:
Through Jewish laws and customs (more so customs) women had very little to no rights. For the most part they could have little to no authority. Even in their personal lives they were largely confined to their father's or husband's home. As such the were viewed as vastly inferior to men. "By the time of Jesus, women no longer had the freedoms and status they had enjoyed in the Old Testament era. Jewish society had become very much male-dominated. Women were considered to be inferior beings and were assigned almost the same status as slaves. They were not educated, not allowed to take any leadership roles, and confined to mostly domestic duties." http://www.twopaths.com/faq_womensrights.htm
At the time it wouldn't have been a big deal for a rabbi to go and pray for or bless a religious leaders son but not his daughter. For many a daughter was another mouth to feed until you could get her married. But Jesus saw value in Jairus' daughter. This in its self was a great declaration of God's invitation to women as important members of His kingdom but what follows was even more amazing.
Now if we think back to part 5 of this study when Jesus healed the leper how we discussed the way in which Jesus handled the issue of being unclean, here Jesus does it again. This time it is with a woman with an issue of blood. According to the Jewish law a menstruating woman was ceremonially unclean.
When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. Whoever touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.
" 'When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the LORD for the uncleanness of her discharge. ~Leviticus 15:25-30
This woman had been considered unclean for twelve years! This woman then did the unthinkable: she reached out and touched Jesus. Now according to Leviticus 15 this act should have made Jesus unclean, but something happened. Instead of Jesus becoming unclean this woman was made clean, instantly.
The Good News:
Jesus is willing to go and heal the young girl while healing the body and heart of a woman who is called unclean. Woman, Jesus came to bring the kingdom of God to you as well as to men. You are just as valuable and important. As Jesus' ministry on earth continued some of His most dedicated disciples were woman and some of His great leaders were influenced and brought into faith because of the legacy of godly woman. In fact God used woman more than once in the Old Testament used woman to save the nation of Israel.
May you remember your place as a child of God. May you remember always the value that God has placed on you. A value not based on how you may be abused or miss treated. A value not based on your looks or your success. It is a VALUE based in the price that He paid for you sins when He sent His son Jesus to die for you. You are loved by Him who created all things, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Ladies may you stand proud as a daughter of the KING and know the value your Father has in you, His Princess!
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