“He has sent me to heal the broken hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives”
(Luke 4:18b-19a, NKJV)
There are various other examples of how Jesus opposed the Jewish taboos and prejudices concerning women and rectifying this ancient injustice against them, but it’s not necessary to work through all the examples to see that this is consistently the case. A last example can serve as the last nail in the coffin of human and religious prejudice against women.
We are very familiar with the story told in Mark 5:25-34 – a woman who had suffered from a flow of blood for twelve years, had heard of Jesus and thought that she could be healed if she could only touch his garment. She had pushed her way through the crowd, touched his garment from behind, and “immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up”, and she was healed. Jesus had noticed the power that was released, and wanted to know who had touched his garment. His disciples asked, rather irritated, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched me?'” This had obviously been no chance touch. When He saw the woman, knowing that it was her who touched Him, He said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
Menstruation, the natural cycle of any young, healthy woman, had throughout Jewish tradition been considered to be a curse upon women. This was not the intention of the law – the procedures concerning sexual hygiene (in primitive circumstances) which are spelled out in Lev 15 are not only concerned with menstruation, but also with the involuntary loss of semen which men could experience due to certain sexual diseases (Keil & Delitszch: Commentary on the Old Testament). One forgets that most of the laws were in place to ensure the health of a community functioning in the desert. Landa Cope’s The Old Testament Template explains how the laws had to guarantee order within the community under very difficult circumstances, and that it points to general foundational principles of any community’s proper functioning. The Jew had made these functional laws laws of faith. In fact, the Jewish men had seen menstruation as a curse that women carried, the result of Eve’s fall in paradise. They went so far as to say that a women who handled her menstruation with imprecision could die in childbirth (Mishnah Talmud, Shabbath 3, 5b, 34).
There was no reason for this woman, who had suffered from the flowing of blood for twelve years, to be prohibited from having any social contact or fellowship with other believers! But the attitude which Jesus had toward women gave her the confidence to break with all the Jewish taboos and do something which was forbidden – touch Him. And Jesus reacts immediately, not by confronting her in anger, moving away and separating himself from other people, but by firstly demonstrating that all the Old Testament laws are useless without love, acceptance and grace. He demonstrated the true law, free from the rules which were killing people.
It is interesting to note that the expression used, “fountain of blood”, also plays on the repair of life and purpose, Jesus’ fulfilment of His purpose, which is here demonstrated in such a profound way, especially concerning women – “The Spirit of the Lord, is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19).
- Sela: Touch the seam of his garment in faith for a deep desire you are harbouring.
- Read: Ex 38-40
- Examine how this has been fulfilled: Ex 40:13 (Tip: 1 Pet 2:9; Gal 3:27; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10,-14).
