Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 2 Study # 8
April 12, 2021
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: The woman's reasonings and actions brought her what she sought.
Introduction: In our study last week we looked into some of the backdrop of "theology" as Mark has been developing it through his records of events.
This evening I want to consider the puzzle of the woman's thinking and actions.
- I. The Woman's Actions and Thinking.
- A. The woman's "coming"...
- 1. Having heard (participle) concerning "The Jesus"... .
- a. This is the "root" of her decision to pursue a "different" course in the light of her gradually declining "life".
- b. For her, "life" was disintegrating and her "methods of life" had proven to be completely inadequate.
- c. Whatever aspect of her "hearing" concerning "The Jesus" was, it had the impact of turning her to "repentance" [the greatness of her need and the willingness of Jesus to meet it].
- 1) We are not told what she already knew "about God".
- 2) We are simply told that whatever it was that she heard "about Jesus" (the Mighty One) moved her (generating the faith behind action) to "move" to make contact with Him.
- 3) But, her overt behavior was deliberate and determined and rode rough-shod over what the "Law" plainly said.
- a) In the reality of her setting in life, she was unclean and forbidden to cause anyone else to be made unclean by her touch (Leviticus 15:19-28).
- b) This was a very large issue in the Law while Yahweh dwelt in the midst of Israel.
- i. His presence among them in visible demonstration was extremely dangerous for them if they presumed to approach Him in uncleanness.
- ii. Yet, Jesus' presence among them was not so...
- (i) His contact with them held no danger to them in the days of His time upon the earth as a "Son of Man".
- (ii) It might be that His "Sanctuary Presence" simply was not among them by reason of the greatness of their apostasy so that all of their "trampling of His courts" and the perversion of the Temple into a den of thieves made it "safe" for them in a very temporary sense.
- c) This "largeness" of the issue might, then, explain the woman's terror when "caught out".
- i. There is something to be said about the terror of heart when something of great benefit is done to someone of great disqualification (Note Luke 5:8).
- ii. However, there is also something to be said about the temerity of such behavior as it was a 'driven' action that ignored all of the "rules" in a kind of "harmony" with the basic principle that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27).
- iii. Additionally, Jesus was very clear that "rules" could, and should, be "suspended" when they "got in the way of" far more pressing issues (Mark 3:4).
- 2. She pressed her "case" because "she had heard about Jesus" and that "hearing" was largely about how He dealt with people like her.
- 3. Having come (participle) with/in the crowd behind Him... .
- a. This "coming" was rooted in her waning "strength" and "love/faith" construct as a "dying, dependent, creature" of "The Mighty One".
- b. This "coming" was for the purpose of taking hold of His "outer garment".
- 4. She lay hold (primary verb) of His garment...
- B. The woman's thinking.
- 1. For she was saying (as her "inner conversation" of "reasoning")...
- a. "If I indeed should lay hold of His garments..."
- 1) In 6:56 Mark tells us that this reasoning/determination was widespread (as does Matthew 14:36).
- 2) We are not, however, told whether this "widespread" desire to touch the fringes of His garments was the "root" of the woman's thoughts (somehow "faith" arising out of what she knew of Messiah's impact from the Old Testament prophetic picture).
- b. "I shall be delivered."
- 1) This is the "declaration of the faith" that drove her to "come".
- 2) As "faith" it had to have had some "tradition" within the culture that supported the ideas behind it because of some roots in "revelation, illumination, and conviction".
- a) There is an Old Testament "link" in the Levitical Law of "touching" that communicates a "transmission" from/to (Leviticus 6:27; Lamentations 4:14; and Haggai 2:12).
- b) We are not, however, told whether this "widespread" desire to touch the fringes of His garments was the "root" of the woman's thoughts (somehow "faith" arising out of what she knew of Messiah's impact from the Old Testament prophetic picture); that is a "theological" issue rooted in the biblical concept of "faith" always being rooted in some form of "revelation, illumination, and conviction".
- c) The issue of Mark's use of the word "sozo" in her conversation with herself.
- i. There is a perfectly good word in Greek for "to heal" so that she could have said "I shall be healed".
- ii. That word is actually used in Jesus' declaration to her regarding her "being delivered" ("sozo") and "being healed" ("isti ugies) (5:34)
- II. Mark's Record Of The Outcome(s) Of The Woman's "Faith".
- A. The necessary consideration of the initial outcome.
- 1. "Immediately" (focus here) the well of her blood was dried up...
- 2. And she knew in the body that she had been healed from the scourge.
- B. The reaction of Jesus...
- 1. "Immediately" (focus here) The Jesus...
- a. Having known precisely in Himself the power having gone out from Him without His deliberate control (because He was not in the habit of turning people down, He didn't have to "ride herd on His 'power' ").
- b. Having turned in the crowd...
- c. "Was saying..."
- d. "Who grasped of Me the garments?"
- 2. The disciples of Him were saying to Him...
- a. You are seeing the crowd "afflicting You"...
- b. And You are saying, "Who grasped of Me?"
- 3. And He was looking around to see her that had done this thing.
- C. The outcome.
- 1. The woman...
- a. Having been frightened...
- b. And trembling...
- c. Having perceived what had happened to her...
- d. Came and fell down to Him...
- e. And said to Him all the truth.
- 2. Jesus...
- a. Said to her...
- b. "Daughter..."
- c. "Your faith has delivered you".
- d. "Go in peace and be healed of your affliction".
