Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner continues the Scriptural Companion series with the Woman Who Touched Jesus. The story of her faith, courage and desperation is reported in three Gospels. For audio, video and blog please continuing reading.
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As you step forward in faith, your own journey probably has taken twists and turns. Who have you met on your journey? Which character of the scripture do you identify with? The character we will discuss today has very little to say, we are not even given her name! Yet, her actions when she met Jesus are recorded in all three synoptic Gospels. She is given just one little line in Matthew and Mark and nothing she said is recorded in Luke. I have a direct tie to her which I will share later.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I’m your host Patti Brunner. Today’s Scriptural Companion is “The Woman Who Touched Jesus”.
As you check history you see the servants who were chosen to serve the Lord were often the weak, the small and those without power or influence. Our Scriptural Companion has served the kingdom since the time of Christ because in her desperation over the long-term issue of blood. She stepped forward and reached for Jesus. As you reflect upon the Woman Who Touched Jesus you will see that within God’s kingdom there is a place for each one, and that your own story can be a light for the next one who starts the same journey of faith.
Here is the Gospel of Luke’s story of our scriptural companion in Chapter 8. Jesus had gone out in the boat with the apostles and “40r When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41And a man named Jairus, an official of the synagogue, came forward. He fell at the feet of Jesus and begged him to come to his house, 42because he had an only daughter,* about twelve years old, and she was dying. As Jesus went, the crowds almost crushed him. 43And a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years,* who [had spent her whole livelihood on doctors and] was unable to be cured by anyone, 44came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. Immediately her bleeding stopped. 45Jesus then asked, “Who touched me?” While all were denying it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are pushing and pressing in upon you.” 46But Jesus said, “Someone has touched me; for I know that power has gone out from me.” s 47When the woman realized that she had not escaped notice, she came forward trembling. Falling down before him, she explained in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been healed immediately. 48He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace.” t”
What’s so special about this woman? After all she was a lawbreaker. She broke the law of Leviticus that banned her touching others because of ritual impurity. “According to the Mosaic Law (Lv 15:25–30) this condition would render the woman unclean and unfit for contact with other people.”[i] She might have been rich at one time, but we are told she spent all her money searching for a cure for her condition. She was a sickly woman who had the delicate, embarrassing, irritating condition of continuous bleeding.
The law she broke was not part of the 10 Commandments but was set forth in Leviticus, one of the five books of the Pentateuch and the Torah. Pharisees, Sadducees, and Samaritans all followed these books that are the first five books in the Old Testament. Can you put yourself in her condition? Can you imagine a time in your life that you are grasping the last straw? That you have spent all that you have and you are without improvement? Can you imagine having the condition that isolates you from your friends? A condition that keeps you attending church services? And on the sidelines and all social settings? A condition that causes even your family to keep their distance! I think there are a lot of us that spent a year and a half with that condition during the recent Covid-19 disaster.
In Leviticus 15, the people were taught: “25* When a woman has a flow of blood for several days outside her menstrual period, or when her flow continues beyond the ordinary period, as long as she suffers this unclean flow she shall be unclean, just as during her menstrual period.h” “27Anyone who touches them becomes unclean; that person shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.” Leviticus tells us, “31You shall warn the Israelites of their uncleanness, lest they die through their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle,j which is in their midst.” This woman did not touch the tabernacle in the temple but she touched the person that resides in the tabernacle yet she did not die. Jesus explains to her that her faith has saved her. Jesus, by his death and resurrection has fulfilled the law of sin and death.
We Christians have a similar rule when it comes to receiving the Eucharist when we are ‘unclean’ because of grave sin. Quoting 1 Corinthians Chapter 11, the Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraph #1385 instructs us: “we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” 218 Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion.”
The Gospel of Matthew Chapter 9 says, “20A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel* on his cloak. 21She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.” Why did the woman go after the tassel of Jesus? And why was Jesus wearing fringe on his cloak? The Book of Deuteronomy, another book of the Pentateuch and the Torah , gives a precept in Chapter 22 Dt 22:12 “12You shall put tassels on the four corners of the cloak that you wrap around yourself.f” This priestly law prescribed that tassels be worn on the corners of one’s garment as a reminder to keep the commandments. It is also given in the Book of Numbers Chapter 15: Nm 15:37–39: “37The LORD said to Moses:38Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout their generations they are to make tassels* for the corners of their garments, fastening a violet cord to each corner.h 39When you use these tassels, the sight of the cord will remind you of all the commandments of the LORD and you will do them, without prostituting yourself going after the desires of your hearts and your eyes.40Thus you will remember to do all my commandments and you will be holy to your God.41I, the LORD, am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I, the LORD your God. i” Jesus didn’t need to be reminded to keep the commandments of God but he was taught by Joseph and Mary to follow the customs and the law. His tassels would remind others the importance of keeping the commandments.
When I visited the Holy Land I purchased a prayer shawl that had a fringe of knotted tassels at the corners. I was told that each knot symbolized a prayer. It makes me think of a knotted rosary that is woven from heavy thread.
When our Scriptural Companion touched the cloak of Jesus it was seen as a memorable testimony. Testimonies must continue. For it is the testimonies of the followers of the Lord that make clear the understanding of His love for the people. Each person that receives His love and then shares the knowledge with others helps break barriers so that new ones may also receive His love. When the testimony is given the heart grows. When the testimony is of hate or despair that also causes the heart to grow but instead of love it is grown with hate and pity.
Only a few chapters later in Matthew, the woman’s actions were being repeated by others! In Chapter 14, 14:36 we hear of healings at Gennesaret. “35When the men of that place recognized him, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought to him all those who were sick36m and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak, and as many as touched it were healed.”
The testimony of touching cloth continued in the Church. In Acts of the Apostles Chapter 19, it says, “11So extraordinary were the mighty deeds God accomplished at the hands of Paul, 12that when face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.c”
I am reminded of the ministry of Fr. Stephen Barham. Sometimes he would instruct the crowd of listeners to wave a napkin or a handkerchief as we praised God and invite his anointing of healing upon this small cloth. Fr. Barham instructed us to use this like the crowd in the Acts of the Apostles for healing. One time I loaned my cloth to a woman in my parish who was suffering from cancer and she was healed. I later gave the same cloth to my mother and she was not healed of cancer. Maybe her healing was something different.
The power of God is not limited to touching cloths. In Acts of the Apostles Chapter 5 “15They even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.d16A large number of people from the towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem also gathered, bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.”
As we continue through the pages of scripture there are many situations we can ‘imagine’ ourselves present. The story of our scriptural companion is nestled in the dire circumstances of a dying child. When her father comes to get Jesus he is in a panic. Butt Jesus is not rushing with fear to get to the child’s side before it’s too late. No! He stops his travel plan to turn and call out the Woman with the Hemorrhage and to address her needs. Jesus shows us that the struggles that continue around you are not to ‘worry’ about. They provide contrast and color. These days of blessed encounters are by God’s grace. In this case one was a healing and the other a resuscitation, and show Jesus as Lord over sickness and death. They also show the power of faith.
God continues to heal physically, spiritually and mentally. You know, mental pain causes the most suffering but spiritual illness can cause death of the soul. His priests can heal us in the confessional if only we repent and ask for reconciliation. Just think of the tremendous healing power of the sacraments, especially Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick! God’s grace and love is not limited to times of serious illness. He also heals small matters and non-life threatening illness. I have witnessed the Lord’s healing of thumb sucking and infected pierced ears.
It is reported that Jesus ‘felt’ the anointing. Even though a crowd pressed in around Jesus, he knew the anointing of the touch of our Scriptural Companion. Mark reports in Chapter 5:29 “Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” 31 But his disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling.” Do you ever feel like you are approaching Jesus with fear and trembling? Not if we know Jesus. “She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.” Do you tell Jesus the ‘whole truth’? “34 Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”
I often remind myself how much I must rely on the Lord’s strength; I am so weak. Even in my weakness I have felt the Lord’s anointing. I have tasted it many times as I ministered to others – evangelizing, healing, consoling. You know that you know the power of God—when you feel that anointing. You know that you know the Presence of God in your midst.
I promised you at the beginning to share my connection with this character of the Woman with the Hemorrhage, our Scriptural Companion. When I was 46 I had a lingering issue of irregular bleeding. I had asked a friend to pray for me for healing of the same condition a year earlier. I knew the story of the woman who touched Jesus. I knew this ailment was something that Jesus had healed. And, the symptoms subsided for a season. When the symptoms returned I wondered if the evil one trying to take my healing away from me? The evil one is a thief and a liar. I approached the condition with my doctor at an annual checkup and he said the bleeding could be cause by a polyp, an ovarian cyst or uterine disorder or hormones. It was then that I realized that I need to be very specific in asking for healing. Two weeks later, I was diagnosed after a sonogram with uterine fibroids which caused chronic bleeding. The doctor told me the only treatment was a hysterectomy. I told him I would rather pray about it now that we knew exactly how to pray. Like the woman with the Issue of Blood, our Scriptural Companion, I reached out to Jesus, and was healed! I touched his cloak. I decided to affirm my healing and thanked the Lord for healing my womb. The abnormal symptoms immediately ceased! So many are in need of a touch from Jesus they fail to recognize that He desires them to reach for Him.
Look at this or any story in scripture. Place yourself as the character or beside them. Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Church, to the people as God reveals the Way to the fullness of the Kingdom of God. This is a good lesson to learn and one to share with other listeners of the Word, the Way. Continue to reach out to be “a light in the darkness”.
We will end with a quote from the book of James 5: 13-15, “If anyone among you is suffering hardship, he must pray. If a person is in good spirits, he should sing a hymn of praise. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and this prayer uttered in faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will restore him to health.” Good News!
You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit; I am Patti Brunner. You can find this episode at PatriarchMinistries.com/165 and other Scriptural Companions on our YouTube channel playlist. We invite you to subscribe, its free, and click the notification bell to find us easily next time. Please leave us a comment and click like. And then come back for more. With the Holy Spirit there’s always more! Amen.
[i] NAB footnotes : according to the Mosaic law (Lv 15:25–30) this condition would render the woman unclean and unfit for contact with other people.
