A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
– Mark 5:24-34

Jesus, who was only 30 or so, called the “woman with the issue of blood” daughter, which makes me curious about her age. She’d been bleeding for 12 years, but girls can be as young as 8 when their periods start. She could have been in her early 20s. Or maybe she was his age or older, and Jesus was the type who used terms of endearment with everyone. Maybe he just knew that most women could use a little extra affection when they’re dealing with “women’s problems”.

I’ve jumped to the end of the story, so let’s back up. Way back:

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
– Genesis 1:27

To the woman he said:
“I will make your pains in childbirth very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
– Genesis 3:16

God designed women’s bodies, and he made them to look like him. He knows how they work. Sometimes he uses distinctly feminine imagery to describe himself, like, “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you” (Isaiah 66:13), or, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” (Isaiah 49:15).

He also knows the ways the fall broke women’s bodies and the ways they hurt. He’s not afraid to associate himself with that either: “For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant” (Isaiah 42:14).

Women’s menstrual cycles and associated problems are discussed with surprising (to us) frankness in Leviticus 15 (and for what it’s worth, the same chapter contains very similar laws for men). God is not ashamed of women’s problems.

Why are we?

In her blog post “Seven Things Every Christian Man Should Know about Periods“, Rachel Jones talks about some of the struggles associated with periods, and then she says, “[T]hese are the kinds of struggles faced by many of the women sitting in your church on a Sunday—often in secret. This is where their theology of suffering meets their everyday life. And like any hurting person, they need brothers and sisters to come alongside them, love them, and help them see the difference that discipleship to Jesus makes in the midst of their pain.” It’s so important for church to be a safe place for people to bring their pain. If you think that anyone – man or woman, young or old – should not ask for support for a problem because the problem is awkward, that’s a very un-Christlike attitude.

People have different levels of comfort discussing their personal lives, and no one should be forced to share things they don’t want to with people they don’t want to share with. But everyone should be willing to listen with love to another’s problems, even if they’re uncomfortable to hear about.

When the bleeding woman came to Jesus for healing, she gave him every opportunity to keep it a secret. She didn’t say a word. She didn’t even make him face her. Jesus is the one who made sure she was seen and heard. He didn’t need to do it to heal her; she was already healed. I think he wanted the chance to express his love to her, and perhaps to make sure she knew he was not ashamed of her suffering, and that no one around them needed to be either.

Are you a safe person for someone to approach with their awkward problems?

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