Women

From February 2018 I have been writing a series for Woman Alive on what we might learn from the challenges faced by women in the biblical narratives. Each month I examine a different woman’s experience and explore what we can learn from it. Here is the first article, with one of the familiar Gospel stories about the woman struggling with menstrual problems. The Bleeding Woman : Mark 5:25–34.

We don’t know the name of the woman who approached Jesus with her menstrual problems. That’s not surprising because she wasn’t in the disciples’ circles of family or friends, nor had anyone else intervened on her behalf. She suddenly appeared in the narrative, as Jesus was on his way to the home of a synagogue leader, whose daughter was dangerously ill. It is also a somewhat unexpected incident because of the negative attitudes in ancient Jewish culture towards women and their bodily functions.

So, whether the biblical authors knew who she was or not, we can appreciate the discretion in not being told her identity, and allowing her some measure of anonymity.

We do know a good deal about her circumstances, however. She was likely to be approaching middle age, since, she had been struggling with erratic and persistent bleeding for 12 years. She must have suffered enormous discomfort and dragging pain, along with that awful draining of energy, familiar to any woman who has known prolonged period problems. And she now had few financial assets because she had spent all that she had on trying to find a cure. To compound her problems, she will have been socially isolated.

Yet, the isolation was not simply a result of her illness or poverty. Because of the strict religious taboos about contact with other people during the menstrual cycle, this poor woman could well have been confined to her own living quarters for most of the time. We know this, simply by reading Leviticus 15: 19–33.

In fact, all the laws relating to menstruation in that passage give us a strong indication of the limitations of her lifestyle. She would be ceremonially ‘unclean’ for as long as the bleeding persisted, and anyone who had physical contact with her would also be ‘unclean’ for the rest of that day. Anything she had been lying or sitting on would be seen as unclean, and must not be touched by others. Her very presence was a persistent hygiene and legal risk. Even after the bleeding stopped, she would have had to wait seven days before she could be seen as ‘clean’.

For someone in her situation, with such erratic and persistent flows of blood, there would be barely a gap between the bouts of bleeding. As a result, she faced little way out of this horribly restrictive cycle. Her chronic gynaecological problems, along with the attitudes of her culture, denied her any enjoyment of regular close company or a normal social life.

So we can understand why she was desperate to see an end to her menstrual distress and had spent so much time and money trying to get better. It had all been to no avail. The big question, to which there seemed to be no answer, was what to do now?

If Jesus had not been in the area, the story might well have ended there, and we would have never heard of this woman. But he was in the area, and the news of his whereabouts had reached her. Knowing of some of the other amazing things that had happened when people made contact with Jesus, she was suddenly filled with hope. Perhaps her own ailment could be healed and she could move into an entirely different future.

First, however, there was also a big challenge to face. She had to find the courage to go out in public in her condition, and ask this Jewish rabbinic teacher for help. And she had to do this despite the taboos laid out for her by her religion. She would have to face the fact that if she was detected, she would completely disrupt his journey by making him ‘unclean’: contact from her would require him to change his clothing and go through ritual ablutions before he could travel any further.

Yet the woman was determined. She would not be held down by this crippling condition. So she formed a plan. She would mingle, unnoticed, in the crowd and not even try to speak to Jesus. If she could only get close enough for a few seconds and touch just the bottom of his tunic as he passed by, she believed his healing power could reach her. Then she could melt quietly away again, and no-one would be any the wiser.

We all know that this is not what happened. Certainly, she got as far as the hem of his clothes, and was able to bend down, unobserved, and make contact. And, wonderfully, she felt the effects immediately in her body. Without warning, the bleeding stopped. What had been an act of ritual contamination had triggered an outcome of wonderful healing. We can imagine the enormous rush of euphoria and joy she experienced. But as far as melting away was concerned, that certainly didn’t materialise.

It is interesting that it was Jesus who prevented it. With his divine discernment he could surely know who had touched him without putting her on the spot. His disciples were also confused at his insistence. They might have interpreted this as his desire to know if indeed he had come into contact with someone ritually unclean. Characteristically, they pointed out that there was no way of knowing who had touched Jesus since the crowds were pressing in on him from all directions. Anybody could have brushed against his clothing!

Jesus, however, remained persistent. Yet it became clear that this was not because of any violation of the hygiene laws – he seemed indifferent to that. He raised the question because he knew someone had been healed. He wanted that person to identify herself.

The woman’s terror at being forced out into the open was completely understandable. Her cover had been blown, and in normal circumstances her defiance of the laws could have had serious consequences. We can imagine what it was like for her to be “trembling with fear”. There was no other way out than to throw herself down on her knees and confess: a gesture of submission before the authority of a religious leader.

The remarkable difference in this story is what happened next. The fact that she got no rebuke from Jesus, no sharp criticism for having compromised him or ‘contaminated’ his clothing, must have surprised both her and the whole crowd. Instead, Jesus affirms the woman, ignores the legal infringement and commends her faith. He even calls her “daughter” – a reminder that her identity is not defined by law but by trust. She is indeed a faithful Jewish woman who worships God and honours his will. In replacing her fear with peace, Jesus makes it clear that she has brought her own healing into play, through her trust in him.

Facing our own challenges

We can learn so many things from this woman on how to face the debilitating things that challenge us. Her story gives us both practical and spiritual insights.

Her disability was overwhelming, but she refused to be defined by its limitations. There was nothing more she could do to find a cure, but she could still reject the attitudes of other people and the restrictions those attitudes placed on her. She could still move forward in faith, and not be dragged down into hopelessness.

She was determined to find a new purpose for the future. In this story, she received physical healing from Jesus. But even when that isn’t being offered to us, we can be brought into other kinds of freedom where God can bless and renew us. Like her, we can move out of the things that trap us and hold us down. We can refuse to let our fear of others restrain us from what we know to be right before God. We can reject being sucked into hopelessness, and start taking steps to break the chains that keep us in bondage. Making our own new start is not as intimidating as it might sound, if we have the confidence that God will bless us in it.

When we ask God in prayer to widen our horizons, we can begin to see the opportunities that we miss when we focus on our despondency. We can actively experience the energising of the Holy Spirit as we step out in faith. Healing and empowerment take so many different forms in all our lives. But they often begin when we recognise, as this woman did, that however vulnerable we feel, we are never alone in the challenges we face.

Confronting the biggest challenges in faith and hope, we become more able to understand what else God might yet have in store for us. We need never lose heart. For even in the worst and darkest parts of our lives, we can find that God’s grace is sufficient for us, and Christ’s strength is made perfect in our weakness.

It is not difficult to be inspired by Harriet Tubman. She was a woman who suffered injustice, oppression, brutality and betrayal, yet persevered and trusted God to enable her to keep going. Her tenacity is summed up in her much-quoted reflection: ‘I always tole God, I’m gwine (going to) hole steady on you an’ you got to see me through.’
Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Maryland in about 1820. She had a wretched childhood, suffering many beatings and then a massive head injury at thirteen when she refused to help a foreman punish a slave. The headaches which were to occur for the rest of her life often came with visions and a deep sense of God’s presence. Although illiterate she had learned bible stories from her mother, and prayer was to be a constant source of hope and help. Years later, she prayed for her own slave master, a cruel and unfeeling man, urging God to change his heart. When no change and Harriet found he was sending her to a chain gang far from her family, she altered her prayer and asked God to remove the man from the earth. A week later the man died, and Harriet was utterly remorseful that she had ever prayed for someone’s destruction.
In fact, most of her life was about deliverance rather than destruction. When she discovered that both her parents had been promised release from their slavery, so technically their children should not have been slaves, she felt the weight of injustice. There was no possibility of legal redress, as such steps were beyond her, but she did feel that God was guiding her to achieve her freedom nevertheless by running away. Her husband, a freed slave, would not support her attempt, and her brothers who left with her became afraid and returned, so she continued alone. She hid by day and travelled by night, finally reaching Pennsylvania, a Free State. The arduous nature of her journey and the danger it put her in seemed to bring her closer to God. She recalls how she prayed to God, lying on the cold ground: ‘Oh dear Lord, I ain’t got no friend but you. Come to my help, Lord for I’m in trouble!’ God did come to her help, and brought others to aid her, for she travelled without detection and arrived in the North and to freedom.
Harriet had made use of the network known as the Underground Railroad. This was a well-organised system of free and slave blacks, white abolitionists and other activists against slavery. The Quakers were very involved as well as other Christian groups. There were various ‘stops’ on the railroad where people took her in. At one stop she was suddenly ordered by the lady of the house to sweep the yard. Later she discovered that the slave hunters had come, but were satisfied that she was one of the family’s slaves. In all, the journey to Pennsylvania was of some ninety miles, and when Harriet arrived she spoke how everything around her seemed tinged with heaven.
Harriet was not content with her own freedom, however, and went back to rescue her family. In all, over the next eleven years she made between thirteen and nineteen trips back to the South and brought out more 100 slaves to freedom through the underground railroad (some even suggest 300) . In fact, Harriet became such a threat to the pockets of plantation owners that an abolitionist claimed that they had offered a reward of $40,000 reward for her capture – although this enormous sum has never been verified. Accurate numbers are less important however than the fact that she guided people to safety and enabled them to leave a life of slavery behind. And when the American Congress, dominated by the Southern States, passed the Fugitive Slave Law requiring the free states to recapture slaves, Harriet still did not give up but began to take slaves farther north into Canada where slavery was prohibited.
The rest of her life saw an extension of her passion for justice. She was active in the Civil War. She guided the Combahee River Raid which liberated more than 700 slaves in South Carolina. She even became involved in the women’s suffrage movement. Wherever there was a call for liberation, Harriet was active.
Yet she refused to accept any accolades. Always, she insisted that she merely followed the guidance of God and did nothing without his prompting, his authority or his protection. For the God she believed in is the God who loves human beings, and calls us to neighbour love. For all believers he is indeed the God of justice.

This article was first published in Woman Alive July 2011

The Bleeding Woman – Woman Alive Series

Harriet Tubman on International Women’s Day

Hello. I’m Elaine

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