Day 7 – Jesus Overturns Shame
The New Testament story of the woman suffering from a bleeding gives us a vivid picture of Jesus’ healing power and how he overturns shame.
Recall the story of how she reached out to Jesus. “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’” (Mark 5:27-28).
This woman suffered a chronic, continuous bleeding physically. Alongside the suffering in her body was the suffering of shame:
The shame of constant, personal embarrassment of this female concern for twelve long years. The shame of being declared incurable by doctors and unclean by the religious authorities. The shame of being ostracized from her own community for fear they too would be defiled. She felt isolated, invisible, alone.
In spite of the weight of these troubles, in faith she desperately and courageously reached out to touch Jesus and was healed instantly! “At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’” (Mark 5:30).
He didn’t let her slip away unseen back into the crowd. He drew attention to her. “Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth” (Mark 5:33).
Jesus is so gracious. Not only did he heal her of a hidden ailment, Jesus made four declarations reversing the unseen damage of shame. “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:34).
(1) Jesus addressed her not as an outcast, but as “daughter”, a sensitive and tender term like a father-daughter relationship. She was the only woman in the Gospels whom Jesus directly called “daughter”. He called her daughter because she didn’t consider herself a daughter of God. Yet she was indeed a child of God, a woman with dignity, loved by God.
(2) Jesus announced, “Your faith has healed you,” indicating that her brave faith was genuine and God-honored, and that her scourge of suffering was removed. Jesus saw not her uncleanness but her “faith”.
(3) Jesus declared, “Go in peace,” assuring her reintegration into her community and society.
(4) Jesus affirmed, “Be freed from your suffering,” showing how Christ’s wholeness brings liberty spiritually, physically, relationally, and emotionally.
Today: Receive from Jesus one of these four declarations.
~ Pastor Dave
