Beloved Daughter of Jesus

American authors William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway had a memorable spat over their writing techniques.

Faulkner commented, “Ernest Hemingway: he has no courage, has never crawled out on a limb. He has never been known to use a word that might cause the reader to check with a dictionary to see if it is properly used.”

Hemingway replied with, “Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.”

The book of Mark in the bible is more like a chapter in a Hemingway novel. Direct and to the point.

French historian Étienne Trocmé was particularly opinionated about the writer of the book of Mark in the Bible.  “The point is settled: the author of Mark was a clumsy writer unworthy of mention in any history of literature.”

With all due respect to Monsieur Trocmé, I believe he was probably a snob of the William Faulkner variety.

Ironically, even though Mark was considered an unpolished writer, there is a writing technique named after him. It’s known as a ‘Markan Sandwich.’  Think of it as an Oreo cookie. Cookie top = beginning of story 1. Crème filling = beginning and end of story 2. Cookie bottom = end of story 1.

I write all this, dear reader, to make sure you know what to look for in this upcoming story within a story, found in Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed again by boat to the other side, many people gathered to Him. And He was beside the sea. One of the rulers of the synagogue, named Jairus, saw Jesus and came and fell at His feet and earnestly asked Him, “My little daughter is lying at the point of death. I ask You, come and lay Your hands on her, so that she may be healed. And she will live.” So Jesus went with him.

And many people followed Him and pressed in on Him. And a certain woman had a hemorrhage for twelve years and had suffered much under many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was not better but rather grew worse. When she had heard of Jesus, she came in the crowd behind Him and touched His garment.For she said, “If I may touch His garments, I shall be healed.” And immediately her hemorrhage dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.

 At once, Jesus knew within Himself that power had gone out of Him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?”

 His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing against You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”  

And He looked around to see her who had done it. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the entire truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”

 While He was still speaking, some came from the house of the synagogue ruler and said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”

 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid, only believe.”

 He let no one follow Him, except Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw the tumult, and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this uproar and weep? The girl is not dead but sleeping.” They laughed at Him in ridicule.

But when He had put them all out, He took the father and the mother of the girl and those who were with Him and entered where the girl was lying. He took the girl by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were greatly astonished. He strictly ordered them to let no one know of it and directed them to give her something to eat. 

Cookie top – Jairus tells Jesus his daughter is dying, asks Jesus to come and heal her. Jesus starts to go to Jairus’s home.

Crème filling – The woman with the twelve-year hemorrhage (uterine bleeding) touches the hem of Jesus’ cloak and is instantly healed.

Cookie bottom – Jairus’s daughter is dead, but Jesus raises her from the dead.

How does Mark connect these stories?  Why does it matter?  There are more than a few connections, but I am going to point out the largest one.

Both females were considered unclean. Levitical law states a woman during her menstrual cycle (Leviticus 15:19-23) and a corpse (Numbers 19:11-15) were both considered unclean.

Yet, Jesus didn’t hesitate to touch both of them. He would have been considered unclean, according to the law – but He was not made unclean at all. He healed both of these dear ladies.

I have a confession – the story of the bleeding woman has always touched me very personally. If you are squeamish – stop reading here. I have such heavy menstrual cycles that I require intravenous iron to make up for the loss. Anemia is a very real problem for me and has kept me sidelined from a lot of activities. The woman with the twelve-year bleed was considered unclean in her society, anything she touched would also be unclean. In other words, she was ostracized and avoided. Can you imagine if everyone you knew would not have any contact with you when you had your monthly cycle? Now imagine that being a day in and day out reality for this woman for twelve long years. Who could she turn to? Who could she talk to?  I am amazed she didn’t die of lack of human connection. She is desperate for help when she reaches for Jesus, having tried everything else. Jesus is her only hope and she risks everything to touch him.

When I first read her story, I cried. Gender colors this topic.

Alisha Riepma writes, “I find it unfortunate that the blood that is shed by women routinely for the sake of giving life has been shamed throughout history, while the blood shed by men in battle—in the act of taking life—is honored. Women, simply by having a body that works, were considered unclean and cast out routinely. This unnamed woman, whose story the text brings to light, not only suffered from continuous bleeding for many years, but also that dirty, unclean feeling resulting from being stigmatized and isolated. Hers was a continual existence of pain and being cast out. Jesus meets her in this space—or, rather, is met by her—and does the opposite of what is expected. Instead of being repulsed or disgusted by her, he responds with peace. He responds with acceptance and grace. He seems to respond with understanding. He calls her daughter. He accepts her. He offers her peace and heals her.”

Jesus doesn’t shy away from the woman, her problem, her blood, her touch. It is a tender picture.

When I was in high school, we had to take standardized tests once a year for about a week. Bathroom breaks were only allowed once per hour. On one of those days, I had bled so heavily that it leaked through onto my clothes quite noticeably as well as the chair I had been sitting on. I promptly said curse words about the wretched tests and walked right out of the school building. I walked the two miles home to get clean clothes and hide for the rest of the day from my classmates.  My best memory was arriving to find my stepfather at home as he wasn’t working that day. Not only was he completely sympathetic of my problem, he treated it with complete nonchalance, accepting that I was taking the day off.

I remember reading a story of a young man from Florida, Jose Angel Garcia, who at 15 years old began carrying tampons and pads in his backpack for his female classmates. Garcia said most of his male friends treat menstruation as if it’s “repulsive,” and a lot of his female friends get embarrassed or feel bad about having their period. He started a social media campaign on Twitter with the hashtag – Real Men Support Women.

I want to address another thing – not just the stigma of talking about menstruation.

I’d like to tackle a piece of the scripture that is easy to get tripped up on.

(Jesus to the bleeding woman) “He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”

I remember going to a church a long time ago and the pastor there was preaching a story about a man who was sick and biked some obscene amount of miles to get to church because he told himself that if he just went to church, God would make him well. Predictably, at the end of the story, the guy was healed. The pastor inferred that we should never skip church for illness, as God could heal us at the church service.

I remember being left feeling like my faith was anemic, not just my body.  I stopped attending that church.

It is not scripturally accurate that your faith will always heal you.  In the bleeding woman’s circumstances, Jesus healed her and credited her faith. There are many other instances of the Bible where people have great faith and are not healed. Why not? 

Genevieve Wilson writes – “It frustrates me that we have people professing to be Christians and yet walk around telling people they are not healed because of their lack of faith. It isn’t your lack of faith that isn’t healing you. Maybe the Lord sees that you, or others, will be more sanctified and Him glorified through your trial. Look at Paul, a great apostle and man of faith, who was struck with an illness (Galatians chapter 4 verses 13-15).

Here Paul tells us that he had a physical condition, but why didn’t he just use his faith to heal himself? Well, the Lord used the illness to bring Himself glory and for Paul to be taken care of by the people of Galatia.”

In my particular circumstance, God has not healed me of heavy bleeding. Instead, he led me to a wonderful and caring hematologist willing to treat me with intravenous iron. At my monthly infusions, I do my best to share the word of God with my nursing staff. If God had chosen to heal me, I would not have met any of these people.

 I recently had surgery to cut off the blood supply to one of the benign tumors (fibroids) in my uterus. Fibroid tumors cause heavy bleeding.  By the age of 50, up to 80% of black women and up to 70% of white women have fibroids. I may need a second surgery. These surgeries, although painful, are an opportunity to share the gospel with those around me.

My sons will know about the bleeding woman’s story. I will teach them that it is Christ like love to show a bleeding woman acceptance and grace. That Jesus was just as masculine when he called the bleeding woman “Daughter” as he was when he whipped the moneylenders for profaning the temple of God.

I love that Mark’s “Oreo Cookie” technique includes the bleeding woman’s story and Jesus’ kind and mature reaction.

Ernest Hemingway was right.  Big emotions don’t have to come from big words. There are older and simpler and better words such as these…

“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”

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