"No one is born pure; purity is the 

outcome of conflict 

-Oswald Chambers 

We know her as the “woman with the issue of blood”, thanks to many of our modern bible translations titling of this section of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus, however, knew her as “daughter” (Mt. 9:22”) 

I have always felt a strong connection with this woman. In Matthew’s gospel she appears almost as an interruption to the story. A synagogue official, read: very important person, has come to Jesus asking for help. Given the cultural context, this was a big deal. If we think on human terms, this is one of those events that could have the potential to really “launch” Jesus ministry and protect him from those who were skeptical of the validity of this questionable jew from Nazareth. Jesus responds by getting up to go with this official to attend to his daughter. And here is where it gets interesting. There is another person in the immediate crowd who is also desperate. A woman, who Matthew tells us has been suffering with some kind of hemorrhage for twelve years, is in the crowd and she also has faith that within Jesus is the power to heal. While the synagogue official came to Jesus right out in the open to ask for help, his status possibly offering him that freedom, this woman desires only to touch His garment, as if in secret, to acquire her miracle. 

During this time, women were not meant to operate in the public sphere. Female interactions with men were also tricky according to cultural customs. To “up the anti” so to speak, according to Jewish law any bleeding ailment meant a person was considered “unclean”, and all those who came into contact with such a person was also ceremonially unclean for a time and had to perform certain acts to become clean, or shall we say pure, again. In Matthews telling, everything is stacked against this woman. So far Matthew has told us a daughter has died and an unclean woman is in need of healing. 

I can only imagine the synagogue official, the father’s, anguish when Jesus, on the way to heal his daughter, stops to address this woman crawling on the ground, while his precious daughter lay dead. 

We all have “issues”… 

One of the main reasons this story always hits me hard is due to my own life-long physical issues. I have endured 27 years with what turned out to be a neurological disorder. The pain began when I was around 12 years old and there were many times it was debilitating. I have seen more doctors than I could list, had so many different scans, tests, prodding, even shocking, then I care to mention. I can feel, down to the deepest fiber of my being, this woman’s desperate desire to simply touch the garment flowing from Jesus body. Her faith was equal to that of the synagogue official who was also reaching out to Jesus for help. 

Both touching the dead and touching, or being touched by, someone with an issue of blood would make any person ceremonially unclean. Jesus however, got up to go and lay hands on the dead girl and was un-phased by the touch from an unclean woman. Oswald Chambers, in his Studies on the Sermon on the Mount,  states that “No one is born pure; purity is the outcome of conflict. (p.22) Chambers describes purity not as simply doing what is right but by being right, internally. This is only possible through Christ. The power of the Gospel, the good news of Christ, is that we are given the disposition of Christ- we are made whole and pure. 

Jesus’ power and authority are proven as he heals both the woman and the officials daughter. They  are made whole and well. Yet, possibly even more striking is that Jesus, in a very real sense, changes the very disposition of this woman. She is called daughter. The woman who was unclean, separated from society, alone, likely having no family, and unable to interact with society on the most basic of levels, is called daughter. Two daughters were healed that day by the compassionate and powerful touch of Jesus.

Circumstances often put us to the test, yet it is in the testing that our new identity, as a pure son or daughter of Christ, has the potential to be revealed. 

Taken from Matthew 9:18-22

“While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live. Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples. And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, “if I only touch His garment, I will get well.” But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter take courage; your faith has made you well.” At once the woman was made well.”