According to Jewish law as recorded in Leviticus Chapter 15, a woman who has a discharge of blood shall be deemed ceremonially unclean for as long as the bleeding continues. So long as she is ceremonially unclean, anyone who touches her or anything that she sleeps on or sits on becomes unclean as well. Being unclean meant not being welcome in the temple, or even in social settings where you might then cause others to become unclean. A woman suffering through the ordeal of a medical condition would have also faced feelings of shame and loneliness, knowing that she would not be welcomed by the community at a time when she needed their love and support the most.
This was the condition that the nameless woman mentioned in Matthew 9, Mark 5 and Luke 8 would have been experiencing for twelve long and dark years. She had spent everything that she had on doctors and medical providers hoping for a cure, but without success. No doubt her family and friends had tried to visit, at a distance, for the first several years but at some point, that likely waned. Perhaps she had finally resigned herself to her life on the outside, never again to feel the tender love of a long hug. She had not given up on life itself, but she had likely given up on living. It would have been a dark and lonely existence.
One day, however, someone introduced a ray of hope into her life. Somehow, she heard about a man named Jesus – a man who had miraculous healing powers that could help the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear. In the midst of utter darkness, even the light of a single match shines brightly, and so must have shone the glimmer of hope in her heart as she thought that perhaps she too could be healed. She had to seek him out, even if it meant wandering through crowds that she was supposed to avoid. So it was, as she reached out and touched the hem of Jesus’ garment as he passed by, and immediately she was healed. As Jesus told her, she could go in peace for her faith had made her well.
We need Jesus the Great Healer today. We need healing from the physical threat of Covid-19. We need healing from the threat of social injustices. We need healing from the threat of storms like Hurricane Isaias. We need healing from issues like emotional abuse, physical abuse, cancer, bankruptcy, or personal tragedy. Our lives are filled with so much darkness, yet Jesus is here for us today just as he was 2,000 years ago, offering up a brilliant light of hope if we will only humble ourselves and come to him.
In this life there will always be darkness caused by disease, injustice, or disasters. Such is life in a fallen and sinful world. Therefore, our hope must be based on something greater, something that transcends this world. Place your hope in the Creator himself, the One who was and is and is to come. Our healing may not be immediate but it will be everlasting, and for that reason we can then live in peace knowing that our faith has made us well.