I AM: Clean Week Two - Day Five: A Narrative of the Unclean Woman

By Central Women

It started out as a normal day. Normal for her, that is.

A beautiful woman, a child of God. With hopes and dreams, desires, and a future. That is until the bleeding started.

For 12 years she fought it, sought physicians, remedies, and more. Nothing helped. She spent all she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse.

She has accepted her new normal, a life of being physically sick, constantly; a life labeled unclean, socially unacceptable.

As with others who are unclean, she was kicked out of her home, unable to reside with family. The lucky ones might have a shack at the edge of the family’s property, but most ended up as outcasts, alone, living outside of the town.

“I’m unclean,” she tells herself. She didn’t even need to tell herself this. It was evident by the way others treated her. A curse, to be unloved, unwelcome and unfit for any relationship, for work, for having a life.

It’s been years. How is she still living? Bleeding for twelve years. It’s a miracle she has made it this long. But even more miraculous is what comes next.

Jesus the Christ is near. Just on the other side of the Sea of Galilee to be exact. He is traveling from village to village, often with swarms of crowds following Him, healing and preaching as He goes.

Earlier today, He healed a demon-possessed man. Casting out the demons from the man, sending them into a herd of pigs. Bystanders watched as nearly two thousand pigs rushed over the cliff, plunging into the water.

Losing a herd of pigs, a man’s livelihood doesn’t typically sit well with villagers. In their shock of seeing this formerly demon-possessed man healed and the despair of watching the loss of the pigs, the townspeople plead with Jesus…“leave.”

Jesus makes His way across the lake to Magdala, a sprawling fishing village at the base of the eastern foothills of Mount Arbel.

Here, Jesus meets Jairus, a synagogue ruler. Flustered and in a hurry, Jairus pleads with Jesus, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

And Jesus went.

Walking through a crowded marketplace, people everywhere, crowds bumping into and pressing on Jesus, we see her.

She heard the bustle, and she knows He’s here. This is her chance. She has heard He heals the lame and the sick. Quite possibly just touching Him can heal someone.

“If I only….”

She says to herself, “If I only touch His clothes, I will be healed.” This was her chance to be made clean.

And so she does. Silently and discreetly, she makes her way, across the ground, through the busy and moving legs. Inching across the stone floor.

Risking her life, she stretches out her hand for the hem of His robe.

And then it happens. Immediately the bleeding stops. She knows her body, and she knows instantly, she has been healed. The bleeding, the dirtiness, being unclean, could it really be over?

As quickly as she entered, she pulls back, creeping backward to leave quietly, Jesus calls out, “Who touched my clothes?” He looks around, searching, waiting for her to come forward.

Knowing she had been healed, and trembling with fear, she presents herself to Him.

“Daughter,” He says, “your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

And very suddenly, men enter the scene and call to Jairus. Jesus, Peter, James, John, and Jairus leave to tend to Jairus’ daughter.

She’s still kneeling there. The crowd that stopped to witness what happened returns to their hustling and bustling. How long does she stay there…processing?

She has a new life. She was healed from the inside. No longer unclean, cursed or untouchable.

It takes a few moments to pull herself together. Placing her hands on the cold, stone floor, she steadies herself and slowly stands up, head hung low. Then, she smiles. She rolls her shoulders back, lifts her head high, plants her feet firmly on the ground. She spins around, cautiously at first and growing with confidence.

Jesus has made her clean. With each passing moment, she lets the guilt, the shame, the labels fall off her even while she stands there in blood-stained clothes.

One foot propels her forward, as she begins her new journey. And she realizes it is true; after an encounter with Jesus, no one will ever be the same.