Outcast

Photo by Lisa Fotios

Originally published May 4, 2015

Luke 8:40-48

“On the other side of the lake the crowds received Jesus with open arms because they had been waiting for him. And now a man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell down at Jesus’ feet, begging him to come home with him. His only child was dying, a little girl twelve years old.

As Jesus went with him, he was surrounded by the crowds. And there was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had spent everything she had on doctors and still could find no cure. She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.

‘Who touched me?’ Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, ‘Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.’

But Jesus told him, ‘No, someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.’ When the woman realized that Jesus knew, she began to tremble and fell to her knees before him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. ‘Daughter,’ he said to her, ‘your faith has made you well. Go in peace.’”

“According to Jewish law, a man who touched a menstruating woman became ceremonially unclean. This was true whether the bleeding was normal or, as in this woman’s case, the result of an abnormal condition. To protect themselves from such defilement, Jewish men carefully avoided touching, speaking to, or even looking at women.” (Commentary NLT Study Bible)

This is another story I love because it tells so much about who Jesus is. Imagine, for twelve years being viewed and treated as an outcast. When this woman walked down the street I imagine the townspeople seeing her coming and actually crossing to the other side of the street, more concerned about their “cleanness” than they were about contributing to her lack of worth and dignity. The quick downcasting of their eyes as if even looking at her would defile them.  I can only imagine the humiliation and shame she must have felt. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. This type of attitude has a way of growing. I doubt that she had much of anyone who was willing to be a real friend to her. Twelve years of no significant touch, conversation, laughter, etc.  

Jesus arrived to find crowds of people waiting for him. Right away Jairus the leader of the local synagogue came to beg Jesus to heal his only child, a little girl who was dying. Jesus agreed to go.  The multitudes of people surrounded him as he made his way towards the home of Jairus and the dying child. The sheer number of people surrounding him made it virtually impossible to get to Jesus. Among this crowd was the desperate woman with the hemorrhage. The woman without hope who had spent all she had on doctors with no cure, the woman who could not tolerate the thought of one more day lived as an outcast. With no real significant relationship how could she believe she had anything to offer or a reason to live? Her life consisted of surviving one day at a time. Out of this desperation she dared to crawl through the crowd and risk the mob’s response if they realized she had inadvertently touched them. She had to get to Jesus. She got close enough and in her quiet desperation reached out and touched just the fringe of his robe, but not daring to touch Jesus himself. Immediately the bleeding stopped.

She didn’t have long to bask in the possibility that she had indeed been healed when she heard Jesus ask, “Who touched me?” Terrified, she fell trembling at his feet expecting to be berated and shamed and punished for daring to touch and defile him. What she received was the opposite. I imagine Jesus kneeling down with outstretched hands helping her to her feet. The first physical touch she had felt in twelve long years. Looking her in the eye, with no downcast gaze, actually embracing her and saying to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Why would he do that? He was on his way to save the dying child of an important church leader. Wasn’t that more urgent and important? She was the town outcast who had lived this way a long time. There was a child who was dying. Why would he stop when verse 44 said the healing was immediate?  He didn’t have to stop to heal her.  He did it to speak life into this woman physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He called her daughter and told her that it was her faith that made her well. Jesus himself modeled for the community that she, as well as all outcasts, were worthy of acceptance, love, and respect. He modeled to the church that the outcasts were to be welcomed, loved, and treated with dignity. The down and out are worth just as much as those who have been blessed with health, wealth, and family.

Mark 2:17 says, “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

That’s all of us. As I’ve said before and I never want to forget, without Jesus I’ve been the sinful woman, the outcast, the Pharisee, and the performing Christian and would be again without His grace. Simply grace.