What happens when you’re cut off from your family because of disease? How do you overcome both the sickness and the isolation? In Christ, anything is possible.
—
It’s quite funny. Today’s epistle reading (from Galatians) is the same one we read two weeks ago.
Then, it was read as a part of the festal celebrations for St. James. Today, it’s read as a part of the normal lectionary cycle.
Nonetheless, the emphasis is still the same: the good news is that no matter who you are, trust in the faithfulness of the anointed messiah means you can be a part of Israel, a part of God’s family.
The Old Testament Law doesn’t do this. In fact, Paul argues, it divides and thus it can’t be good news (it does, though, serve an important function).
But, in short, this is the gist of the entire letter of St. Paul to the Galatians: it’s all about unity centered around the messiah.
I detailed all that a few weeks ago (click here to read it), so I won’t rehash it all now. But I bring it up because this is the matrix in which we can better understand what’s happening in today’s gospel lesson – the healing of the woman with the flow of blood.
You see, the Old Testament Law, setting strict boundaries, said that maimed and sick people could not be full members of Israel. Through healing, Jesus removes any obstacles that get in the way so that everyone can be included.
Approaching Jesus in Faith
Today’s gospel, among many things, is also a story about faith.
As we learned, there was a woman who had a flow of blood. She had had this flow for 12 years. No matter which doctor she turned to, no matter what healing she tried, nothing seemed to heal her.
She had tried everything – so much so that she had spent all she had looking for a cure. Yet, nothing.
Scripture tells us that it was by faith that she approached Jesus one day. She reached out and touched the fringe of his garment – much in the same way some Orthodox Christians reach out and touch the hem of the priest’s garment during the Great Entrance.
At once, she was healed!
At first, Jesus didn’t know what had happened. But the woman drew up courage and quickly spoke up, admitting what she had done.
Jesus’ response was a caring one.
“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” (Luke 8:48 RSV)
The Old Testament Cut People Off From Community
To us, it’s easy to miss the significance of what had happened.
Yes, it’s a story about healing but we can’t leave it there. If we do, then it’s no different than people healed by modern doctors – the only difference being the method of healing.
To dig deeper, we have to look into what it meant for the woman to have this disease.
For this, we turn to the Old Testament book of Leviticus.
If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days… all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness… Every bed on which she lies…shall be to her as the bed of her impurity; and everything on which she sits shall be unclean… And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. (Leviticus 15:25-27 RSV)
So, not only is she unclean until the discharge of blood stops but anyone who touches her – or even something she had touched – is unclean until evening, presuming they wash their clothes and themselves.
But it gets even worse.
“Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.” (Leviticus 15:31 RSV)
In other words, the unclean person is cut off from Israel. In some cases, the unclean had to live outside the city walls, alone, unprotected.
Practically speaking, this person was no longer a part of the family. They had been cut off.
(P.S. Don’t get me wrong. The Old Testament is just as harsh with discharges from men. See Leviticus 15:1-18, for example. I highlight the feminine aspects of the law because it directly applies to the assigned Gospel reading.)
Being Cleansed Under the Law
The only way to once again become a fully functioning family member was to be healed.
In Old Testament times, this meant hoping the flow of blood would stop, or you found the right medicine.
Even then, the Law required that you jump through a few hoops:
But if she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. And on the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting. And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her before the LORD for her unclean discharge. (Leviticus 15:28-30 RSV)
Only through the cleansing of her “sin” and her “atonement” was she no longer exiled from the community.
This was her personal “Passover.” She was freed from her slavery to the disease and she was able to enter into the “Promised Land,” if you will.
But without healing, she remains in “slavery.”
As you can see, Paul was right. The Law was not good news. It divided the family, causing divisions.
But the stage is now set. Enter, Jesus, stage right.
We Find True Healing and Peace in Christ
Jesus the healer is doing much more than simply healing.
It was the inauguration of the good news that welcomes everyone to come to God in faith and love.
Our sins, our diseases, which once held us back, are dealt with in Jesus. He heals us so that we can (re)join the family and call one another “brother” or “sister.”
This is the gift of shalom, of eirene, of peace that makes us whole.
This brings us back to the reading from Galatians: it’s a proclamation that we are one family through our trust in the faithfulness of the messiah.
The woman with the flow of blood had been cut off from Israel because of her disease. Her disease was such that there was no way she could be restored. She was condemned.
But she had faith that Jesus could reinstate her…that Jesus could bring her home.
The healing she found in Jesus was just that: her restoration, but it was also the proclamation that in Jesus all our wounds are healed.
All of us may enter the Kingdom.
All of us may call God, “Father.”
So now, draw near, as the woman with the flow of blood did. Receive healing. Become a member of God’s family.
P.S. Healing in Christ Brings Us Together as Family
I now invite you to enter deeper into the mystery of Christ with the Orthodox Church!
St. Elias Services
Saturdays, 5 pm (at St. John’s Parish House, 1458 Locust St, Dubuque, IA)
Sundays, 9:30 am (at Hillcrest Chapel, 2001 Asbury Rd, Dubuque, IA)
Or find your nearest Orthodox Church by clicking here