Plight of the woman with the hemorrhage
THE GOSPEL sometimes gives us specific details about the lives of those healed by Jesus. It doesn’t simply recount the miracle, but describes their prior circumstances so that the reader can understand that person’s situation. One such passage is that of the woman with the hemorrhage (cf. Mk 5:25-34). Saint Mark tells us that she was “a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years” (Mk 5:25). This detail gives us a glimpse into how much she had suffered. Besides the physical pain, this woman’s dignity was deeply wounded. Society considered her unclean, so she couldn’t live like everyone else. She was an outcast, and probably had to live on the outskirts of the town and try to conceal her condition. And thus she had to live far from those she loved.
Mark offers another detail: she “had suffered much under the care of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse” (Mk 5:26). She had been hopeful about human remedies that promised quick improvement, but her condition was deteriorating. Therefore it is easy to imagine that, after so many years of searching for alternatives, the woman was on the verge of giving up. Perhaps she thought the time had come to resign herself to a bitter and lonely existence.
This woman’s story represents that of many others today who also experience pain and loneliness and find no solution to their problems. The woman with the hemorrhage, however, was able to regain her hope of being healed “when she heard about Jesus” (Mk 5:27). This time, her hope was not based on yet another medical technique. Her salvation would depend not only on human action, but on her faith in the power of the Messiah. Her attitude can help us place our trust in Christ when our weakness leads us to view our situation in life with pessimism. “When you find yourself tired and exhausted, approach our Lord trustingly, as that good friend of ours did, and say: ‘Jesus, see what you can do about it. Even before I begin to fight, I am already tired.’ He will give you his strength”[1]
UPON LEARNING that Jesus was nearby, the woman with the hemorrhage told herself: “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well” (Mk 5:28). Although it seemed a simple action, it was actually quite complicated. A large crowd was pressing upon our Lord. To reach Him she had to force her way through the people, and therefore, from a legal standpoint, she would transmit her uncleanness to them. If any of those present recognized her, she would likely be punished. But this woman knew that only Jesus could save her. So she approached Him discreetly from the back, and as soon as she touched his cloak, “the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease” (Mk 5:29).
God, in becoming man, has come into contact with the physical reality of our situation. And his love for us is not something abstract, but shown in very specific and material ways. The woman with the hemorrhage is not healed simply through her abstract faith in divine power, but because she shows it through a specific deed: she touches Christ’s cloak. “We have come to believe in God's love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of one’s life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a Person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”[2] This is what happened to the woman: physically touching Jesus ended the source of her affliction and completely transformed her existence.
Jesus comes to meet us in many different ways. We can “touch” our Lord in prayer, in works of mercy, in our work, in human relationships… In each we can sense his closeness and entrust our weakness to Him, like the woman with the hemorrhage. Especially in the sacraments we come into direct contact with Him. Through these tangible signs that are accessible to our humanity, Christ acts and communicates his grace to us through very specific words and actions. “Who are we, to be so close to him?” Saint Josemaría asked. “As with that poor woman in the crowd, he has given us an opportunity. And not just to touch his garment, to feel for a moment the fringe, the hem of his cloak. We actually have Christ himself. He gives himself to us totally, with his Body, his Blood, his Soul and his Divinity. We eat him each day. We speak to him intimately as one does to a father, as one speaks to Love itself. And all this is true. It is no fantasy.”[3]
THE WOMAN thought she had gone unnoticed. She had been healed without anyone realizing it. But Jesus knew something had happened, for He sensed that “power had gone forth from him.” And turning to the crowd, he asked, “Who touched my garments?” The apostles replied: “You see the crowd press around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” (Mk 5:30-31). Many people had come into contact with Jesus, but only one was healed. Christ wants to speak with the one who has approached Him with real faith and not out of curiosity, with the desire and certainty of receiving from Him what they needed.
“But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth” (Mk 5:33). And Jesus then works the second “miracle.” “He knows what has happened and he seeks a personal encounter with her, which is essentially what the woman desired. This means that Jesus not only welcomes her, but considers her worthy of this encounter, to the point of giving her his attention.”[4] Christ wants to hear her own story so that He can illuminate her fears and disappointments. He is not content with simply restoring her health, but wants to let her communicate her experience and her feelings, her pain and her loneliness. And thus, what was once a source of suffering and shame now becomes the story of her salvation, the path that has brought her out of anonymity and made possible her encounter with Christ.
“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (Mk 5:34). With his miracle, Jesus not only restored the woman’s physical health but also her human dignity. Pope Francis said: “We must have courage and go to Him, to ask forgiveness for our sins and go forward, with courage, as this woman did. Hence ‘salvation’ takes on multiple connotations: first of all, it restores the woman’s health; then it frees her from social and religious discrimination; moreover, it fulfills the hope she carried in her heart by dispelling her fears and anxieties; and finally, it restores her to the community by freeing her from the need to act in secret.”[5] Our Lady can help us approach her Son with the faith of the woman with the hemorrhage and with the desire to establish an authentic relationship with Him.
[1] Saint Josemaría, The Forge, no. 244.
[2] Benedict XVI, Deus caritas est, no. 1.
[3] Saint Josemaría, Friends of God, no. 199.
[4] Francis, Audience, 31 August 2016.
[5] Ibid.